Jewish center in Ukraine lightly damaged by firebomb

Police open investigation into attack in city of Kherson; no reports of injuries, with building closed due to coronavirus

By Marcy Oster 22 April 2020, 2:53 pm Edit

Security camera footage of a firebomb attack on a Jewish community center in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, April 20, 2020. (Screen capture: Anash.org)

JTA — A firebombing slightly damaged a Jewish community center in southern Ukraine.

Kherson police are investigating the early Monday morning attack, in which someone set fire to a bottle of flammable liquid and dropped it on the threshold of the building, the Interfax news agency reported. The liquid did not completely catch fire, however, according to Interfax.

The Chabad emissary in Kherson, Rabbi Yossi Wolff, told Anash.org, a news website geared for the worldwide English-speaking emissary community, that the front door of the building caught fire.

Security cameras filmed the attack, according to the report.

The building, which functions as a synagogue and a JCC, has been closed to most activities due to the coronavirus crisis.

Built in 1895, the ornately designed synagogue was seized by communist authorities in 1930 and heavily damaged during World War II. The city turned it into a rehab center in the 1960s, but returned control of the building to the local Jewish community in 1991, according to the report.