CARACAS, Venezuela President Hugo Chavez on Sunday condemned a recent attack on a Venezuela synagogue, suggesting that his political foes were responsible for the incident.
An armed group vandalized Caracas' oldest synagogue, shattering religious objects and spray-painting walls on Friday amid Venezuela's diplomatic spat with Israel over its military offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Leaders of Venezuela's estimated 15,000-member Jewish community said vocal denunciations of Israel by Chavez and the country's state and pro-government news media may have encouraged Friday's attack which they called the worst ever on their community in Venezuela.
"We condemn the actions on the synagogue of Caracas," Chavez said in a televised speech.
The president suggested instead that Venezuela's "oligarchy" wealthy power brokers who oppose his socialist government could have been behind the attack.
"Who benefits from these violent incidents? It is not the government, nor the people, nor the revolution," he said.
Two security guards were overpowered by about 15 people who ransacked the synagogue's sanctuary and vandalized offices, leaving graffiti reading "Jews, get out."
The Israeli Foreign Ministry ordered two Venezuelan envoys to leave this week in response to Venezuela's Jan. 6 expulsion of all Israeli diplomats to protest the offensive.
Nearly 1,300 Palestinians died in the three weeks of fighting.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090202/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_venezuela_synagogue_attack;_ylt=Ag1vtljz2z3lfPkTRUVTauq3IxIF
Do you think the media is responsible for encouraging this attack? Or is it President Chavez's public denunciations of Israel that sparked the violence against the synagouge?
