Jewish man arrested over Arson at Paris jewish center

[Flagg]

JEWISH MAN ARRESTED OVER ARSON AT PARIS JEWISH CENTER

Received Monday, 30 August 2004 15:51:00 GMT
PARIS, Aug 30 (AFP) - French police on Monday arrested a Jewish man on suspicion of torching a Jewish community center in Paris a week ago, a blaze that was initially assumed to be an anti-Semitic arson attack.
The arrest marked an embarrassing turnaround in the investigation of the fire, which had led the French government to declare war on racism and prompted a snap visit to Paris by Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom.
Police investigators said the man taken into custody in connection with the August 22 attack, identified as Raphael B, had worked on occasion as a guard at the center, and that management wanted to fire him.
Investigators suggested that "resentment" over the potential loss of his job could have motivated the 52-year-old suspect, described as "mentally unstable", to set the eastern Paris center ablaze out of revenge.
On August 22, the Jewish center was gutted in a massive blaze, and swastikas and anti-Jewish slogans like "The world would be pure if there were no more Jews" were scrawled inside.
Police found the keys to the center and markers that could have been used to deface it in an apartment where the man, who was placed in preventive detention for up to 48 hours, had been living on and off.
Police said they believed early on that the fire could have been an "inside job" despite the nationwide outrage over another supposed anti-Semitic attack.
Investigators discovered that while the front door of the center was locked at the time of the fire, the back service entrance was open.

http://www.adetocqueville.com/200408301551.i7ufpjj01198.htm

[HuckleB]

1. Again we learn to never assume.

At least for now.

Is Flagg a reference to the repeating guest character on MASH?

[Flagg]

2. Yes and also to Stephen's King character

[Radius]

4. Can't

Find this on afp or any other news wire. Looking..

[HuckleB]

11. I'm not familiar with the King character, but, great name nonetheless.

¡Salud!

:hi:

[burrowowl]

3. You are so right!

Never presume.
Remember OKLA, they were saying it was Arab terrorist and it was McVeigh.

[Radius]

5. Verified

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3611764.stm

It is still not logical to say there is no antisemitisim in europe..

snip
Police sources have told the French news agency AFP that the person detained is a 50-year-old Jewish man who sometimes worked as a guard at the centre, but who management wanted to sack.

Maybe he just wanted to get back at his boss, who knows...

[HuckleB]

9. Yes.

Anti-semitism remains a big problem, with the number of acts in France still increasing over the year prior.

[Rochambeau]

17. Absolutly.

It's important to report that news because that attack had a big media cover, thanx Flagg b.t.w, but the problem remains absolutly crucial in France today.

[struggle4progress]

6. Related links:

<snip>
According to police sources, the suspect is a Jewish homeless person who was formerly employed as a guard by the center.

"This person was never employed here," one of the volunteers running the soup kitchen told The Jerusalem Post. "Our entire operation is based on voluntary help. How could we pay anyone? The suspect used to come to get some warm food; like others, he sometimes helped around. That's all."

The suspect, Raphael X, a man in his fifties, reportedly told police that management of the soup kitchen had fired him, and he torched the place in revenge. Police said the man had been high on their list of suspects from the start of the investigation.
<snip>

CRIF officials reiterated Monday that false anti-Semitic attacks should not mask the reality of statistics released by the French ministry of Justice, counting 298 anti-Semitic aggressions from January 1st to August 20th, 2004. This is three times as much as during the whole year of 2003, they stressed.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1093835905188


<snip>
The suspect, who was described as being in his 50s, was about to be fired, a police source said, and apparently wanted to avenge himself.

No official identification of the suspect in custody or explanation of his motive has so far been provided, but Army Radio said he may have been mentally unbalanced.
<snip>

The fire provoked widespread outrage in France and prompted last week's three-day visit to Paris by Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom to discuss the French campaign against anti-Semitism.
<snip>

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/471231.html


<snip>
Police sources have told the French news agency AFP that the person detained is a 50-year-old Jewish man who sometimes worked as a guard at the centre, but who management wanted to sack.

He was "more or less homeless" and "mentally unstable", they said.
<snip>

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3611764.stm

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[HuckleB]

8. What does this have to do with Israel?

[Nambe]

12. All three of the major Israeli news orgs blasted France....

on their front pages for this attack on Jews.

[HuckleB]

14. So... what's that got to do with what's actually happening in France?

[Radius]

10. WTF

Does Israel have to do with a nut burning down a center, jew or not?

I guess this leaves the other 159 anti semitic attacks in france to look at.

There is an EU report on this if you would like me to link it..Doesn't mention Israel at all.

Just out of curiosity what does implode mean? Like the jews move to NY and South beach or the 3 failed arab wars kind of implode?

My 2 cents.

[daleo]

13. According to the article, Israel did get involved.

"The arrest marked an embarrassing turnaround in the investigation of the fire, which had led the French government to declare war on racism and prompted a snap visit to Paris by Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom."

All I would have to say on this, is that both sides of the Palestinian/Israeli debate jump on these stories too quickly. Given the nature of the issues involved, prudence would be in order, although I suppose it is expecting too much of many people.

[AP]

16. The thing that's wierd (and I'm not going to take sides on whether

this is an X-Files either way) is that the media in France picks 2 out of 161 attacks to make huge media events over, and both turn out to be frauds?

What are the odds?

[Jim Sagle]

15. At least it would solve your problems.

[HuckleB]

18. Interestingly, a Muslim group originally claimed responsibility for this.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1512&ncid=732&e=1&u=/afp/20040822/wl_afp/france_jews_crime

"An Arabic-language statement posted on an Islamic web site said the attack was carried out by "a group of young mujahedeen" (fighters), but the claim could not be independently verified."

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