Pages

Friday, March 29, 2013

Israeli commando raid to save Jewish objects from Syrian synagogue?

A couple of weeks ago there was news that the ancient synagogue in the Jobar neighborhood of Damascus, known as the Eliyahu HaNavi synagogue, had been bombed, apparently by Syrian regime forces.



Syrian TV is reporting that it is the Free Syrian Army that is looting the synagogue:



The latest rumor, which may be coming from Israel, is that Israeli commandos have taken valuable Jewish objects from the synagogue.

Syria Truth, which has not been a fan of the Assad regime, writes:

Informed sources in Tel Aviv revealed this evening that Israeli intelligence succeeded in recent days in a raid the synagogue in the suburb of Jobar in the east of Damascus, and to transfer its contents out of Syria across the Turkish and Jordanian borders in collaboration with "Banner of Islam" group, which controls the region.

A source close to Syrian Rabbi Abraham Hamra, the leader of Jews who came from Syria to Israel in 1994, said that a commando group was composed of about 15 people belonging to the "Jewish Black Panthers" unit went to Jobar early this week in collaboration with Jordanian and Turkish security agencies and "Banner of Islam", which controls the area, and rescued the contents of the Temple of priceless manuscripts and precious collectibles, including a copy of the Torah is one of the oldest in the world, before being transferred through "Banner of Islam" out of Syria through different ways, revealing that the commando team split on the way back to more than five groups, each consisting of two or more people, carrying with them a part of the manuscripts to prevent the loss of all of them if caught by the Syrian army. According to the source, the commandos were mostly Iraqis, Moroccan and Lebanese Jews of who disguised themselves as "Mujahideen Islamists"...

According to sources for Syria Truth, the decision-making process started about three weeks ago when the temple was exposed to mortar fire that destroyed portions of the outer walls and internal rooms and almost destroyed the synagogue totally. Then the Israeli authorities initiated contacts with third-party Turkish and Jordanians to help save the contents of the temple through the channels established by the two countries with the "Free Syrian Army".
I didn't see this in Israeli media, but given the Syrian news story about how the Free Syrian Army looted the synagogue, this actually might have some truth behind it.

Let's hope so.