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Friday July 19, 2002

World Report

ROME (JTA) -- The historic Venice Ghetto returned to calm Monday after three days of intensive police controls following an unspecified terrorist threat.

Venice authorities launched a massive security action on July 11, apparently in response to a tip that the city's centuries-old Jewish quarter, a popular tourist attraction, could be a terrorist target.

The measures were maintained until Sunday. During the alert, Venice Mayor Paolo Costa, speaking on Italian TV, urged residents to go about their business as usual.

Vandals attack British synagogue

LONDON (JTA) -- Vandals destroyed a Torah scroll in a British synagogue. In the July 11 attack in the town of Swansea, vandals also drew a swastika on a wall and tried to burn the building down.

The attack appeared similar to an April assault on a synagogue in London, police said.

Holocaust exhibit is defaced in Paris

PARIS (JTA) -- An exhibition in Paris about children who were deported in 1942 by the Nazis was vandalized by a 55-year-old woman. Christiane Castillon, who had no prior police record and is not believed to belong to any extremist organization, explained the July 7 incident by saying that "people make too many allowances for Jews where the Holocaust is concerned."

Several panels were destroyed, particularly those on which the word "Jew" appeared. On those panels, Castillon tried to cover the word with white paint. Her trial will take place in November. The exhibit was sponsored by the French Association of the Sons and Daughters of Jewish Deportees.

Explosion near Helsinki synagogue

HELSINKI (JTA) -- A car exploded near a synagogue in Helsinki early Tuesday, killing the driver and wounding a passerby.

The head of Helsinki's Jewish community, Gideon Bolotowsky, told Israel Radio that the motive was not immediately clear.

The blast occurred at around 6:50 a.m. in front of a hotel located about 200 yards from the synagogue.

Britain court bars entry by Farrakhan

LONDON (JTA) -- Britain's highest court upheld a ruling barring Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan from entering the country.

Three officials representing the House of Lords published a ruling Monday that Farrakhan should not be permitted any further appeals to overturn the ban. They gave no reasons for their decision.

The ruling came after Britain's Court of Appeal upheld the ban in April, ruling that Farrakhan's "notorious opinions" were a threat to public order.

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