Katy Greene
March 27th, 2009
4:31 PM
In Venezuela, eight police officers, along with three other people, have been charged with vandalizing a synagogue in Caracas in January. Venezuelan prosecutors filed the charges on Thursday. They will be charged with robbery, acts of contempt against a religion, concealing firearms. Interestingly, one of the police officers charged was a former bodyguard to a prominent rabbi, while another one of the suspects was one of the two security guards that were guarding the synagogue that evening. The prosecutors believe that the guard deactivated the security alarm and the electric fence around the synagogue.
The police officers broke into the synagogue on January 3oth, where they proceeded to break religious objects, spray paint anti-Semitic messages on the walls, and steal a computer that has a list containing the names and addresses of all the Jewish people living in Venezuela. Some investigators believe that the true motive of the officers was to steal money that they believed was inside the synagogue, and that the anti-Semitic messages were merely to cover up the true motive of their crime. There are nearly fifteen thousand Jewish people living in Venezuela, and this outbreak of violence has concerned many that the country is becoming more blatantly anti-Semitic.
I think that these crimes are particularly heinous in that they were committed by police officers, who are supposed to repress and prevent violence such as this. The government of Venezuela needs to take special care to ensure that their Jewish citizens feel safe and secure within their country.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29901939/
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