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Inside the Beth Meir synagogue in Bastia, Corsica
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BASTIA (EJP)--- A small explosive device was found Friday morning outside the synagogue of Bastia on the French island of Corsica, France, police said.
The wick had burned out and the device failed to explode.
Passers-by discovered the device on the steps of the Beth Meir synagogue near the old port of Bastia, in the northeastern part of the Mediterranean island.
Gerard Levy, vice-president of the association of the Jewish community, told EJP: “It was a very small crafted device which would have caused only very minor damage to the door of the building if it had exploded.”
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Rabbi Shalom Pinson from Nice (L) with Gerard Levy, vice-president of the Jewish association, outside the Beth Meir synagogue in Bastia on 18 August.
Photo: EJP |
It comprised a cylinder containing black powder connected to a timing device containing fireworks.
Officials said the explosives it contained were weak.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility and no inscription was found on the spot.
Levy expressed his surprise. “This is probably an isolated act,” he said.
The synagogue, the sole on the island, was was vandalised 1998 by unknown people with prayer books torn up, silk scarves shredded and religious images defaced. Windows were also broken and silver candlestick holders were stolen.
Corsica is frequently hit by small-scale bombings, but usually they are waged by separatist groups targeting government buildings and other symbols of the French state.
In a press release, the French Jewish Consistoire said it reacted with what it called "consternation" and demanded that the French government "assure and reinforce the protection of Jewish buildings" in the country.
Prefect Michel Delpuech, the top government representative on the island, wrote in a letter to the Jewish community: "Whoever the perpetrator and whatever his motives, such an attack stems from a way of thinking that I condemn strenuously."
A few Jewish families are living in Bastia.