Synagogue Bombings in Constantinople!

[Timexwatch]

Say it with me kids,

Istanbul, not Constantinople
Istanbul, not Constantinople
Istanbul, not Constantinople

....

[St Leo]

I think the only reasonable response to this is to nuke Babylon, Nineveh, Persepolis, and Memphis.

[Buck Birdseed]

Memphis? What did Soulsville USA ever do to you?

[Datajack Franit]

By the way it's supposed to be Constantinopolis

[Panag]

hi ,

so far 257 injured and 23 death

when is it going to stop with this hate , .......

have a nice day

[Bereta_Eder]

I have never understood why some people hate "Jews" (like they are different or something). I can see Palestinians hating them and for sure they "express" that hate... But for what on earth reason some people "hate Jews" this is something I'll never understand.

[Panag]

Originally posted by paiktis22
I have never understood why some people hate "Jews" (like they are different or something). I can see Palestinians hating them and for sure they "express" that hate... But for what on earth reason some people "hate Jews" this is something I'll never understand.

hi ,

what you wont , check the thread in sig , some countries even give lesson about jew hate , .........

its easy to pick on 15 million and blame them for everything that goes wrong , .......

its just pure hate , hate that thats directed today towards a jew , on monday to a druze , on tuesday to a kopt , on etc , .....

there are people who just hate to hate , and they hate anything thats a bit different then themselfs , like in WW II , ......

like the balkans , like zaire , like so many other places o this planet , .......

have a nice day

btw , ZAKA is on its way

[Chemical Ollie]

Swedish DN says Al-Quedia was most likely behind this. Swedish news also says London will be a likely target in the near future, more so than anything in the US.

[Datajack Franit]

Al-Quedia really sounds like some kind of flavored Pepsi you know

[axi]

the ancients were big fans of squares, I guess.

You should view this in Greek encoding. It's the greek equivalent of the saying: "Live by the sword, die by the sword."

[Panag]

Last Update: 16/11/2003 05:24

Israeli investigators checking sites of Istanbul bomb attacks

By Amos Harel, Aluf Benn and Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondents, and News Agencies



Israeli security officials arrived in Turkey late
Saturday night and were checking the sites of the
double bombings of two synagogues Saturday morning
in Istanbul, which officials said killed at least
23 people and wounded at least 308.

The Israeli team will assist investigators and will also
issue security recommendations for Israeli
and Jewish institutions in the country.

Israeli security officials believe that Al-Qaida, or
some affiliated Islamic

extremist group, was responsible for the
attacks. The security officials are inclined to
believe that Hezbollah was not behind the
bombings.

The assessment comes despite the claim by a
militant Turkish Islamic group, widely believed
to be backed by Iran, that it was responsible
for the blasts. The security officials are
inclined to believe that Hezbollah was not
behind the bombings, and some said that before
Saturday they had never heard of the group that
took responsibility.

Meanwhile, Israeli security officials departed
Saturday for Turkey to assist investigations of
the double bombings, and to issue security
recommendations for Israeli and Jewish
institutions in the country.

Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom will fly to
Turkey on Sunday, where he will meet with Gul
and leaders of the Istanbul Jewish community.

"An attack of this scope," a senior Israeli
security official told Haaretz, "was apparently
planned by a large international terror
organization... We are talking about Al-Qaida,
or something similar to it. Local extremists in
Turkey also probably contributed to the
attack."

Turkish officials also said Al-Qaida might have
had a hand in the attacks. "It is clear that
this is a terrorist event with international
links," Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul
said. Turkish Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu
also said that he could not rule out an
Al-Qaida link to the explosions.

According to the Jewish Agency, six of those
killed in the blasts - including an
eight-year-old girl - and 80 of those injured
have been identified as Jews. The explosions
went off at around 9:30 A.M.

Among the dead are a security guard who stood in
front of one of the synagogues, identified as
Yoel Cohen Ulcer, 19, and a police officer. The
Jewish Agency identified the Jews who were
killed at the Beth Israel synagogue as Ulcer;
Anet Rubinstein, 8, and her grandmother, Anna
Rubinstein, 85; Beto Avraham Varol, about 45;
and Yona Romano, about 55. Berta Ozdogan, 35,
who Army Radio reported was in her fourth month
of pregnancy, was killed at the Neve Shalom
synagogue.

Turkish police said the explosive-laden vehicles
used in the attacks were not driven by suicide
bombers, but Gul later said he believed the
attacks were the work of suicide bombers.

In a telephone call to the Anatolia news agency,
a caller claiming to be from the Great Eastern
Islamic Raiders' Front said the militant group
was responsible for the attacks, and promised
more. The caller said "the attacks would
continue in the future and the reason was that
to prevent the oppression against Muslims,"
Anatolia said.

Police have accused the group, also known as
IBDA-C, for a bombing attack which injured 10
people in downtown Istanbul on December 31,
2000. However, no one has claimed
responsibility for that attack.

Images recorded by surveillance cameras
positioned at the Neve Shalom synagogue show an
individual parking a red car outside the
synagogue and then leaving the area, Israel
Radio reported. According to Turkish media, the
car exploded shortly thereafter.

One explosion went off outside the Neve Shalom
synagogue, the city's largest. The other
severely damaged the Beth Israel synagogue in
the affluent district of Sisli, 5 kilometers (3
miles) away, where members of the city's tiny
Jewish community live.

Twisted metals, shattered windows and debris
from partly collapsed synagogues and nearby
buildings filled the streets. The scent of
smoke and burned bodies filled the air.

Television footage showed medical teams carrying
away several people, some with bloodied or
charred faces. Private NTV television showed
the twisted wreckage of a car and a huge crater
in front of the Neve Shalom synagogue.

NTV television said a red car was seen parked
just before the explosion in front of Neve
Shalom. Police suspected that the car may have
been laden with explosives, NTV said.

Sadettin Gul, an eyewitness, said, "It was like
a war zone."

It was also reported that many people were sick
from ammonia inhalation, possibly related to
the attack.

Magen David Adom rescue service offered to send
medics, blood donations, and equipment to help
Turkish rescue workers and medical services.

A spokesman for the Israeli embassy in Turkey
said that Turkey had turned down Israel's offer
to send special police forces to assist in
investigating the blasts.

Shalom condemned the attacks, suggesting that
the negative way in which Israel is portrayed
in Europe ultimately contributes to attacks of
this kind.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan vowed to
avenge the attacks. "I condemn this act as an
act of terror against humanity," Erdogan told
reporters on an official visit to northern
Cyprus.

The Neve Shalom synagogue is the most important
spiritual center for Istanbul's 20,000 Jews. In
1986, gunmen, believed to be Palestinians,
attacked the synagogue, killing 22 worshippers
and wounding six during a Sabbath service.

In 1992, the Iranian-backed Shiite Muslim group
Hezbollah carried out a bomb attack against the
same synagogue but no one was injured. Another
5,000 Jews live elsewhere in predominantly
Muslim Turkey.

Jewish sites have been targeted in recent
attacks blamed on militants linked to Osama bin
Laden's Al-Qaida - notably in Casablanca,
Morocco, in May and a Tunisian synagogue bombed
in April 2002, that killed 20 people, mainly
German tourists.

[Zevico]

Make the connection, people:
Terrorism here, there IS ALL THE SAME, for the same purpose by the same people-even if these people have different organisations.
Islamic Jihad, Al Qaida, Hamas, Fatah, what is the difference? Names, inner politics of the various groups, perhaps a few rivalries. The goal is the same, the method is the same.

[Buck Birdseed]

Euh, well, no, it isn't. Hamas and Islamic Jihad want to drive the israelis into the sea, Al Quaeda want to create a world-wide islamic rule based on Sharia law. The former is the weak's horrible-and-ridiculous-but-comprehensible reaction to decades of heavy-handed oppression, the latter is the power-mad dreams of a would-be dictator.

[Ted Striker]

This is some serious BS

cowards

[TCO]

I'm sorry about the bombing.

But my main purpose here is to cue the Giants' song...