Fire damages Geneva synagogue

A large fire damaged the Hekhal Haness Synagogue in Geneva Thursday and the police are investigating whether the blaze was arson.The fire erupted about 5 a.m. Thursday on Shavuot and no one was injured, although about one third of the synagogue, built in 1972 and attended mostly by Sephardic Jews with Middle Eastern and North African roots, was blackened by smoke. It took 40 firemen one hour to put out the flames. Police initially reported that the fire was a criminal act but several hours later announced that an electrical fault might have caused the fire. The police investigation, which will continue over the weekend, will use specially-trained dogs to sniff out any explosives that might have been used. Johanne Gurfinkel, secretary-general of the Geneva-based Intercommunity Coordination against Anti-Semitism and Defamation, which monitors anti-Semitism in the French-speaking cantons of Switzerland, said the police have discovered that the fire began next to a circuit-breaker.”The police are leaving the door open to any possibility and we are being very careful not to jump to conclusions,” Gurfinkel said. “Of course people in the community are worried, some think it could be terrorism or someone even mentioned Kristallnacht, but there is no evidence yet that can tell us anything.” There are some 5,000 to 6,000 Jews and six synagogues in Geneva. Gurfinkel said there were no local tensions between Muslims and Jews and that there was no noticeable increase in anti-Semitism in recent years.