Church leaders here today expressed their condemnation of the bombing yesterday of Johannesburg’s main synagogue and extended their sympathy to the Jewish community. Neither synagogue leaders nor the police were prepared today to express an opinion on whether the explosion, which penetrated the outer wall destroying cloakrooms, offices and part of the ladies gallery, had any anti-Semitic motive or was common vandalism. Dr. Percy Yutar, acting president of the synagogue, termed the bombing “wanton destruction.”
C. Landsberg, Deputy Chief Inspector of Explosives, who investigated the damage yesterday, said he believed the blast was caused by a high explosive charge apparently packed into the wall grating and ignited by a fuse. The incident followed damage during robbery attempts at a Methodist church and a Dutch Reformed church here. There was no evidence of robbery at the synagogue.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
