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JewishHistoryעברית

Rosettenville synagogue bombing

Date
1 July 1990Hebrew date: 8th of Tamuz, 5750
Location
South Eastern Hebrew Center, Rosettenville, JohannesburgSouth Africa
Then part of
Republic of South Africa
Perpetrators
  • Right-wing bombers charged over the synagogue blast, including former AWB Johannesburg leader Leonard Veenendal (Militia / auxiliaries)
Killed (estimate)
No reliable estimate
Category
Terror attack
Confidence
Medium

Summary

In the early hours of Sunday 1 July 1990 a bomb damaged the South Eastern Hebrew Center in Rosettenville, Johannesburg. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency, citing the Citizen, placed the blast at 1.38 a.m. on the side of the synagogue opposite a nursery school, and reported swastikas and slogans on the wall including "Jews are the same as Mandela" and a Star of David equated with the ANC. Jewish leaders ascribed the attack to right-wing extremists after Jewish officials had met Nelson Mandela. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission later recorded that, during the months after June 1990, right-wingers placed bombs at a Jewish Centre in Johannesburg among other targets, and that former AWB Johannesburg leader Leonard Veenendal, Daryl Stopforth, Craig Barker and Arthur Archer were charged in connection with the synagogue bombs. The fetched pages do not state a casualty figure.

Sources

  1. Bombing of Johannesburg Synagogue Raises Concerns About Scapegoating. Jewish Telegraphic Agency (1990)
  2. TRC Final Report Volume 2 Chapter 7 Subsection 28. Truth and Reconciliation Commission / South African History Archive

Jewish population (estimates)

  • Worldwide: 13,103,000[3]c. 1990DellaPergola's revised core estimate for 1 January 1990 in the 2024 Year Book chapter.
  • Republic of South Africa: 118,000[62]c. 1979AJYB 1981: 118,000 Jews in the Republic of South Africa in 1979. DellaPergola 2020 retrospective lists the same 118,000 for South Africa in 1970. Nearest opened snapshot for 1983–1998 synagogue bombings.

Sources for population estimates

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  54. Jacqueline Shields, Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries. Jewish Virtual Library
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  62. Sara Koplik, The Demise of the Jewish Community in Afghanistan, 1933–1952. SOAS University of London (PhD thesis abstract / deposit page) (2001)
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  64. All-Union 1959 census — ethnic composition of the USSR. Demoscope Weekly (РГАЭ РФ fond 1562)
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