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"They stayed in the synagogue for about five hours, tied and gagged the guards, destroyed the offices and desecrated the place where we keep rolls of the Torah," Judaism's holy book, explained Elias Farache, president of Venezuela's Jewish Association.
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CARACAS (AFP-EJP)---About fifteen armed people broke into Venezuela's main synagogue overnight Friday to destroy scripture books and spray graffiti, a Jewish community official said.
The Tiferet Synagogue is located at the seat of Venezuela's Jewish Association in the district of Mariperez of the capital Caracas.
"They stayed in the synagogue for about five hours, tied and gagged the guards, destroyed the offices and desecrated the place where we keep rolls of the Torah," Judaism's holy book, explained Elias Farache, president of the Jewish Association.
"Damn Israel," "We don't want Jews here," "Jews get out" and "Assassins" were among the anti-Semitic slogans on the vandalized synagogue, an AFP journalist reported.
"Never in the history of Venezuela's Jewish community have we been the target of such an aggression. The climate is very tense. We feel threatened, intimidated, attacked," Farache added.
Around 15,000 Jews live in the country.
Tension with Chavez government
Farache said the tensions were fueled by the expulsion of Israel's ambassador in Caracas and by the government of Hugo Chavez breaking its diplomatic ties with Israel in mid-January in protest over the Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip.
The Jewish community has filed an official complaint and Farache has requested the government provide the necessary protection for the community.
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"Damn Israel," "We don't want Jews here," "Jews get out" and "Assassins" were among the anti-Semitic slogans on the vandalized synagogue.
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Venezuelan Minister of Information Jesse Chacon said the government "rejects any violent acts against any group in Venezuela" and denied rumors that the vandals had links with the government.
"The state of Israel and the policies of the state of Israel toward the Palestinians are one thing that we emphatically reject, and the government's relationship with the Jewish population living in Venezuela with which we have an excellent relationship is another," he said.
"We deplore this anti-Semitic attack. It is up to Venezuelan authorities to
assure law and order," Israeli foreign foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said, Sunday adding:"The Venezuelan people are neither racist nor anti-Semitic."
"Such acts could not have taken place without the benevolent gaze of the
authorities at the highest level," he said.
Israel this week expelled Venezuela's ambassador in response to Venezuela's expulsion of an Israeli envoy and the rupture of diplomatic relations earlier this month.