Car Fire Outside Suburban Paris Synagogue Not Tied to Magazine Terror

By JTA January 7, 2015

A car that caught fire outside a synagogue near the site of the deadly attack on the Paris headquarters of the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine was not related to the attack, the mayor of a Paris suburb said.

Mayor Francois Pupponi of Sarcelles, a heavily Jewish suburb of Paris, said the fire that erupted Wednesday afternoon was “accidental.” Some reports said the car caught fire due to a mechanical error.

The French news website JSSNews reported and posted photos showing that the car was located directly in front of the Synagogue of Garges-Les-Gonesse in an area where cars are not permitted to park.

In July, the synagogue was attacked during a pro-Palestinian rally in reaction to Israel’s military operation in Gaza.

The attack on Charlie Hebdo left at least 12 dead and 10 injured, including five seriously.

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.

In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.

At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.

Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.

Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO