Concerns grew Tuesday that the conflict in Gaza would spill over in an increasingly violent way into Europe, where attacks were reported in several countries against Jews, synagogues and related targets.
In southwestern France, assailants on Monday night rammed a burning car into the gates of a synagogue in Toulouse, but no one was injured. A Jewish congregation in Helsingborg, in southern Sweden, was also attacked Monday night by someone who "broke a window and threw in something that was burning," a police spokesman said. On Sunday, slogans, including "murderers. ... You broke the cease-fire," were daubed on Israel's Embassy in Stockholm.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has been on a peace mission to the Mideast, warned that France "cannot tolerate letting international tension translate into sectarian violence." France has large Muslim and Jewish populations.
FOREIGN PRESS
ON SIDELINES
Israel has not allowed hundreds of foreign journalists to enter Gaza to cover the conflict, citing the danger to the journalists and their potential for interfering with military operations.
Beyond such tactical considerations, there is a political one. Daniel Seaman, director of Israel's Government Press Office, said that "any journalist who enters Gaza becomes a fig leaf and front for the Hamas terror organization, and I see no reason why we should help that."
In a protest Tuesday, the Foreign Press Association accused Israel of trying to manage the story and said: "The unprecedented denial of access to Gaza for the world's media amounts to a severe violation of press freedom and puts the state of Israel in the company of a handful of regimes around the world which regularly keep journalists from doing their jobs."
EGYPT BLOCKS SOME DOCTORS
A number of doctors and other medical personnel trying to get into Gaza from Egypt have been turned back at the border.
Greek anesthesiologist Dimitrios Mognie, who arrived Friday with five others from Doctors for Peace, said four of the group had already returned home in frustration.
Three Norwegian medical personnel, including one who crossed on Tuesday, have been allowed into Gaza.
VENEZUELA EXPELS ENVOY
Venezuela ordered the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador and some embassy staff to protest Israel's offensive in Gaza.
The decision by President Hugo Chavez, a longtime critic of U.S. and Israeli policy, appeared to be the strongest reaction yet to the Gaza offensive by any country with ties to Israel. Chavez earlier condemned the Israelis carrying out the military campaign as "murderers" and urged Jews in Venezuela to take a stand against the Israeli government.
NEWS SERVICES
