Great Synagogue of Rome, 1982
Rome, Italy
9 October, 1982
Shmini Atzeret
At the end of Shabbat and Shmini Atzeret services in the Great Synagogue of Rome, members of the community were existing the synagogue. Five Palestinian mean calmly walked up to the back door of the synagogue. When a security guard stopped them, they tossed three hand grenades inside. They then open-fired on the crowd with semi-automatic weapons. Fortuitously, the hand grenades bounced off the steps of the building and ricocheted outside. The attackers escaped in cars and although one was eventually captured, were never brought to justice. The attack may have been perpetrated by the same group who later bombed a synagogue in Istanbul.
37 people were injured an one, a toddler named Stefano Gaj Tache, was killed in the attack. Stefano's older brother was shot in the head and chest but survived.
Local Jewish groups gathered on the blood splattered sidewalks and protested the Pope, who had met with PLO leaders prior to the attack. (Washington Post) In the aftermath of the attack, the synagogue requested full-time police protection. Tensions had been high following the 1982 Lebanon War, and a week earlier a bomb had been tossed into an empty synagogue in Milan. (New York Times) Some accused the Italian government of giving terrorists a free reign to operate in the country as long as they didn't attack Italians.
Today a plaque in the synagogue marks the event.
9 October, 1982
Shmini Atzeret
At the end of Shabbat and Shmini Atzeret services in the Great Synagogue of Rome, members of the community were existing the synagogue. Five Palestinian mean calmly walked up to the back door of the synagogue. When a security guard stopped them, they tossed three hand grenades inside. They then open-fired on the crowd with semi-automatic weapons. Fortuitously, the hand grenades bounced off the steps of the building and ricocheted outside. The attackers escaped in cars and although one was eventually captured, were never brought to justice. The attack may have been perpetrated by the same group who later bombed a synagogue in Istanbul.
37 people were injured an one, a toddler named Stefano Gaj Tache, was killed in the attack. Stefano's older brother was shot in the head and chest but survived.
"'The scene outside the synagogue was terrible. Seven or eight people were lying on the ground, some in serious condition.' (Dr. Marco Zarfati, quoted in The Washington Post) The street was covered with splintered galss from the windows of parked cars. There was a large pool of blood on the doorstep of a nearby apartment house, where several wounded person had taken refuge."
Local Jewish groups gathered on the blood splattered sidewalks and protested the Pope, who had met with PLO leaders prior to the attack. (Washington Post) In the aftermath of the attack, the synagogue requested full-time police protection. Tensions had been high following the 1982 Lebanon War, and a week earlier a bomb had been tossed into an empty synagogue in Milan. (New York Times) Some accused the Italian government of giving terrorists a free reign to operate in the country as long as they didn't attack Italians.
Today a plaque in the synagogue marks the event.
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