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JewishHistoryעברית

Lima synagogue bombing

Date
3 December 1982Hebrew date: 17th of Kislev, 5743
Location
Unión Israelita synagogue, LimaPeru
Then part of
Republic of Peru
Perpetrators
  • Unidentified attackers (Terror organization)
Killed (estimate)
No reliable estimate
Category
Terror attack
Confidence
DisputedUPI and the Jewish Telegraphic Agency agree that a dynamite attack hit Lima's main synagogue on 3 December 1982 after worshippers had left, with no injuries reported. They differ on attribution: UPI names unidentified men in a speeding car and treats the blast as separate from a Sendero Luminoso blackout; the JTA account, citing the Anti-Defamation League, links the bombing to PLO-inspired terrorism and quotes President Belaunde on organized international terrorism.

Summary

On the evening of 3 December 1982 unidentified men threw a stick of dynamite through a front window of Lima's only synagogue from a speeding car, UPI reported the next day, shattering windows. Several hundred worshippers had left minutes earlier because a citywide blackout, which authorities attributed to dynamite attacks by Sendero Luminoso on electrical towers, had darkened the capital. UPI recorded no injuries and described the synagogue attack as a separate incident from the blackout. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency, citing Rabbi Morton Rosenthal of the Anti-Defamation League, identified the target as the Great Synagogue, said President Fernando Belaunde Terry denounced the bombing as linked to organized international terrorism, and reported Peruvian Jewish leaders tying a rise in anti-Jewish propaganda to the opening of a PLO office in Peru.

Sources

  1. Power outage in Peru blamed on terrorists. United Press International (1982)
  2. Synagogue Bombings in Peru and Colombia Are Seen As Part of a Growing Wave of Anti-semitic Violence. Jewish Telegraphic Agency (1982)

Jewish population (estimates)

  • Worldwide: 13,034,000[3]c. 1980DellaPergola's revised core estimate for 1 January 1980 in the 2024 Year Book chapter (original AJYB figure that year was 14,527,100).

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