Israel Matzav

Terrorists wanted to target Jews in Prague

The Prague Daily Monitor is reporting on an Islamic terrorist plot to kidnap, hold hostage and murder Jews in the Czech capital:

The extremists planned to make the release of the hostages conditional on the fulfilment of certain conditions, but the secret services do not exactly know the conditions, MfD writes.

It says that the services assume that the extremists would have probably made general calls for U.S. troops to be withdrawn from Iraq, or for the United States to cease supporting Israel.

MfD writes that according to the secret services the terrorists planned to blow up the building in which the hostages were to be kept, and that they would have had explosives ready for use.

According to available information, MfD writes, the terrorists wanted to penetrate a synagogue in Prague's centre during a Jewish religious holiday and take all those present hostage.

"I am not authorised to provide any information in this case," Prime Minister Topolanek (Civic Democrats, ODS) is quoted saying. "In accordance with the government's decision, I only insist that the measures and the extent of information supplied to the public were and are in proportion to the information obtained and to the threat," he added.

One of the synagogues in Central Prague, the Old New Synagogue. Of all the synagogues in Prague, this is perhaps the most important. It has stood here since the 13th century, and despite fires, floods and the Nazi occupation, remains today the functional, spiritual centre of the Jewish community.

I'm not finding a link right now, but I recall a number of years ago being at an exhibit of synagogues at the Diaspora Museum in Tel Aviv, in which they said that the Prague synagogue was one of the few spared by Hitler, because he wanted to show everyone what he had destroyed. (I know it's not the only one, because I have been in the West End Synagogue in Frankfurt, which also pre-dated the war).

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:11 PM