Special Report on Anti-Semitic Incidents- Update - October 24- 2000

Further to the 15 October report on the subject, following is an update on events, in addition to those which have so far occurred/been reported on.

In the late evening after the Day of Atonement, 9 October, there was an attempt to torch a small synagogue in Aix-en-Provence. The entrance door was set on fire and the back door was damaged after an attempted break-in. No one was injured and the damage was only to the exterior. A written handbill was found on the premises containing Nazi slogans and the mention of Hitler.

In synagogues in Mahachkala and in Buijnaksk, Dagestan, anonymous threatening letters were placed on the synagogue doors. The letters, which were identical in both places, threatened that if the Jews did not leave the synagogue by 8 oclock on the Day of Atonement, they would be blown up together with the synagogue.

Many anti-Semitic incidents occurred in Canada during the past week:

• Several Jews, youths and elderly people were physically attacked in a subway station in Montreal and the town of St. Laurent. Arab adults and students were involved in these incidents.
• Several Montreal synagogues received threats.
• The children at the Jewish school in St. Laurent were attacked on several occasions.
• Anti-Semitic abusive slogans were written in several places in Montreal.
• The Jewish cemetery in the town of Laval was apparently vandalized.

On 12 October, a synagogue in Riverdale, Bronx in New York was set on fire.

On 12 October, approximately at 23:00, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at one of the windows of the Liberal synagogue in Toulouse. Slight damage was caused and no one was hurt.

On 12 October, the great Sefardi synagogue in Geneva received six phonecalls threatening the Jews.

On 12 October, two rabbis in Geneva received threatening phonecalls.

On 12 October, a letter was received by the Dagbladet newspaper in Norway in which the writer threatened to kill several well-known Jews whose names appeared on a list.

On 12 October, four Muslim Arabs stood in the entrance to the Prudon street area in Montpellier, France. This is an area containing a Jewish community center and several kosher restaurants. The four Muslims verbally harassed Jews entering the area and threatened them.

On 13 October, an anonymous bomb threat planted was received at the Bolshia Bronyah synagogue in Moscow.

On 13 October, a Jewish school in Geneva received a slanderous phonecall. Another call was received that day by the same woman who threatened an explosion.

On 13 October in the evening, a burning object was thrown in the direction of the Splanade synagogue yard in Strasbourg.

Five young Moroccans who tried to set the synagogue on fire in Meknes, Morocco were arrested on Friday, 13 October.

Over the weekend of 13-14 October, graffiti was written on the Jewish school in Durban.

During the night between 13-14 October, a Molotov cocktail was thrown in the direction of the synagogue in the Meinau quarter in Strasbourg. No damage was caused.

During the night between 13-14 October, slogans against Israel were drawn on a wall, as well as the expression Star of David = Swastika next to the synagogue in Porlamar on Margarita Island in Venezuela.

In the afternoon of 14 October, a phonecall was received at the Jewish club in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, threatening that a bomb would be planted there.

On 14 October, an abusive slogan against Jews was drawn in the outskirts of the ghetto in Rome.

In St. Paul, Minnesota, a succah belonging to the Or Chaim orthodox synagogue was set on fire on Friday evening, 14 October. A wall of the synagogue was damaged. Abusive slogans were written on the wall of a synagogue in Minneapolis.

In the Skokie suburb of Chicago, eggs were thrown at a synagogue, the synagogue succah was destroyed and curses were shouted at Jews from a car driving around in the area.

During the night between 14-15 October, several windows were smashed in the St. Johns Wood synagogue in London. Stones did not penetrate the windows as there is a metal screen on the inside. The synagogue was empty at the time and no one was injured.

A bomb threat was received over the phone at the Cheatham synagogue offices in Manchester. The caller warned that the bomb would explode in the synagogue within 15 minutes. The synagogue was evacuated and the police searched the premises but found nothing.

During the night between 14-15 October, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at the succah of a rabbi in Sydney. The bottle did not ignite and no damage was done.

On 15 October, a car was parked next to the Maghet synagogue in Venissieux in Lyons and set on fire. The synagogue was damaged as a result.

During the night of 15 October, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at the synagogue in the Medon neighbourhood in Paris. No damage was caused.

On the evening of 15 October, the rabbi of the synagogue in Strasbourg was threatened. A young Arab wearing a keffiyah began following him. The rabbi sought refuge in the synagogue and the police were alerted.

In the morning of 15 October, a young Arab was seen brandishing a knife in the public square in front of the synagogue in Strasbourg and threatened the worshippers.

In the morning of 15 October, four Molotov cocktails were thrown at the Sefardi synagogue in the Schaerbeek quarter in Brussels. Light damage was caused to the synagogues outside walls.

In the morning of 15 October, a car with three passengers drove by the front of the Marie Perez synagogue in Caracas. The three men inside shouted at the worshippers nearby: Cursed Jews, long live Palestine! and drove by.

During the night between 15-16 October, black signs were hung on the Habad House in Milwaukee with slogans such as Death to the Israel and its Allies!.

The succah of the Adath Israel synagogue in Sanford, Minnesota was set on fire.

On 16 October, an anonymous bomb threat was received over the phone at the Hebraica Club in San Paolo. Two additional phonecalls were received within five minutes with the identical message and apparently by the same person.

In the morning of 16 October, an Orthodox Jew in his twenties was stabbed while riding a bus in the Stamford Hill neighbourhood of North London. The assailant stabbed the young Jew about 20 times with a hunting knife. The victim is in serious but stable condition. The police arrested the attacker who is a 27- year-old Algerian.

On 16 October, a kosher butcher shop was set on fire in Toulon by three masked men. They broke the storefront window and threw in a Molotov cocktail.

On 17 October, an anonymous announcement was received at the Metzada Jewish school in Sydney.

Abusive slogans were sprayed on the office of a Jewish woman MP in Toulouse (no date).

A Jew was beaten by a group of disorderly persons in Toulouse (no date).