NEW YORK (JTA) — Eight police officers were among those charged in connection with an attack at the largest synagogue in Caracas, Venezuela.
Prosecutors said Thursday that eight police officers and three others were charged in the case, The Associated Press reported. Among those accused is the synagogue rabbi’s former bodyguard and one of two security guards on duty during the attack.
Assailants broke into the synagogue, Tiferet Israel, in January, desecrating religious objects, painting anti-Semitic messages on the walls and — in a development that particularly worried Jewish leaders — stole records with names and addresses of local Jews
President Hugo Chavez condemned the attack. But local and international Jewish organizational leaders blamed him for fostering a climate of hostility towards Jews, particularly with his harsh rhetoric about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which they said prompted the attack.
