France – The Suspected Perpetrator of the Terror Attack on a Synagogue in Paris in 1980 Found in Canada

The French authorities have located in Canada a person of Palestinian extraction suspected of being responsible for the 1980 bombing of the synagogue on Rue Copernic in Paris. In addition, an official source in France has confirmed the report in Le Figaro that the suspect was located thanks to information provided by the German Intelligence services. It has also been reported that the suspect, who holds Lebanese and Canadian citizenship, had in the 1970s been a member of a small organization known as "The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – Special Operations". Four people, including an Israeli woman Aliza Shagrir, were killed and 20 people were injured.

"The French investigators never closed the file and continued trying to move the investigation forward", said Jean Louis Bruguer, a former senior official in the anti-terror HQ, which had been responsible for investigating the incident. "In this sphere, more than in any other one, the passage of time does not necessarily diminish the investigation's chances", he told Reuters. "There are some cases that remain open because there is a chance that the investigation can be re-opened. In view of the serious nature of the incident, we thought that the file must not be closed".

The attack outside the synagogue on Rue Copernic in Paris was carried out on 3 October 1980 and, as mentioned above, took the lives of four people, passersby. The results of the attack could have been far more serious if it had been carried out several minutes later when the worshipers would have been leaving the synagogue. The incident shocked France and led to a mass demonstration against antisemitism in which 200 thousand people participated. At the same time, the then French Prime Minister Raymond Barre, aroused considerable scandal when he declared when he said "Innocent French citizens" were killed in the attack.

Source: http://www.haaretz.co.il/

Date October 12, 2007

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