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Photo: Oren Agmon
Oslo
Photo: Oren Agmon

Shots fired at Oslo synagogue

At 2:30 a.m., perpetrators fire gunshots at synagogue in Norway’s capital from passing car; police open investigation. Jewish Oslo resident tells Ynet: Since war in Lebanon atmosphere here has become unpleasant for Jews

Anti-Semitic incident in Norway: Shots were fired overnight Sunday towards at the synagogue in Oslo, Norway’s capital.

 

The incident occurred at 2:30 a.m. and the gunshots were apparently fired from a passing car, which quickly fled the scene. No one was wounded, but local police opened an investigation into the incident.

 

Yael, a 35-year-old resident of Oslo, told Ynet that the synagogue was located in central Oslo, next to the municipality and a Jewish kindergarten. As the only synagogue in the Norwegian capital, it serves Oslo’s small Jewish community.

 

She said the building’s façade was hit by the gunshots. “I heard police with dogs searching the area, but they found nothing. Police are still looking for the suspects. Security around the embassy was boosted and the synagogue area was closed off,” Yael related.

 

Worsening atmosphere

Yael noted that since July, with the outbreak of the war between Israel and Hizbullah, attitudes towards Jews in Norway have worsened.

 

“Since the war in Lebanon,” Yael said, “there is an unpleasant atmosphere here. There were a lot of (verbal) attacks on Israel by religious leaders, and there were demonstrations against the war by Muslims and the Norwegian left wing, mostly attended by adolescents.”

 

“There was a protest after Israel attacked the village of Qana, and demonstrators carried anti-Semitic symbols and called for bombing Tel Aviv. After the protest, the demonstrators hurled stones at the synagogue and one of them even defecated on the stairs of the temple,” she said.

 

With that, she said the most recent incident indicated an escalation, due to the unprecedented use of an automatic weapon.

 

According to Jewish Agency data, some 1,200 Jews live in Norway, most of whom reside in Oslo. An additional 500 Israelis can be found throughout Norway.

 

Roee Nahmias contributed to the report

 


פרסום ראשון: 09.17.06, 13:11
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