Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on January 17, 2015

Three defendants ontrial for an arsonattack on the Wuppertal Synagogue last July have apologized in court.

The defendants, ages 18, 24 and 29, are all of Palestinian descent.Testifying on Jan. 14 in the Wuppertal district court, which is located 330 miles west of Berlin, they said they hadbeen angry about the war between Israel and Hamas is Gaza. But they did notwant to hurt anyone, they said, according to a report in Die Weltnewspaper. They apologized to the Jewish community.

Prosecutors have charged them with attempted arson for throwing firebombsat the entrance of the Bergischen Synagogue inthe early morning hours of July 29. No one was injured, and damage wasslight, as the fires extinguished by themselves. A neighbor hadcalled police to report burning objects in the street next to thesynagogue, which was dedicated in 2002. Wuppertals original synagoguewas destroyed by the Nazis in 1938.

The men said they were drunk and had smoked marijuana at the time oftheattack, celebrating the end of the month of Ramadan fasting.They had filled their empty beer bottles with diesel fuel, they said.

Die Welt reported that one defendant, speaking through his attorney,said he has no problem with Jewish people.

But the head of the local Jewish community, Leonid Goldberg, toldreporters that he did not believe this statement and saw the arsonattack as a sign of pure anti-Semitism.

A verdict is expected on Jan.28. The crime is punishable by a jailterm of up to 15 years, news reports said.

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Defendants apologize for setting fire to German synagogue

Category: Synagogue
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