El Menasha Synagogue, 1949

5 August, 1949
El Menasha Synagogue
Damascus, Syria

The El Menasha Synagogue was one of the oldest congregations in Damascus. The security situation for Jewish communities in the Arab world had deteriorated in the 1940s and synagogues were a target.

On Friday night, a group of young students had gathered in the synagogue for the Kabbalat Shabbat service. It was Shabbat Nachamu, the Shabbat immediately following Tisha B'av. A Syrian veteran of the Israeli War of Independence threw several hand grenades into the El Menasha Synagogue in Damascus, shaking the walls of the building. Parents rushed to carry their blood-soaked children to the nearby Italian Hospital, but many were dead by the time they arrived. The attack killed twelve and wounded sixty, mostly children.

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