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France Seeks 3 Suspects in 1982 Attack on Goldenberg Restaurant France Seeks 3 Suspects in 1982 Attack on Goldenberg Restaurant
(about 4 hours later)
PARIS — The French authorities have identified three suspects in a 1982 terrorist attack at a storied Jewish deli in Paris that killed six people, including two Americans, and wounded 22 others, the Paris prosecutor said on Wednesday. PARIS — For more than three decades, the case, at the time considered the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in France since World War II, remained unsolved, stumping investigators and haunting the Jewish community in Paris.
The failure to solve the crime, which at the time was considered the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in France since World War II, had been a long-running source of frustration for law enforcement officers and for French Jews. The attack in 1982 at a storied Jewish deli killed six people, including two Americans, and wounded 22 others. The police said at the time that the attack on the deli, Goldenberg, in the Marais district on Rue des Rosiers, a narrow and lively street now peppered with falafel restaurants and Judaica shops, had been meticulously planned and involved as many as six assailants. During the attack, one of the attackers threw a grenade into the restaurant while the others fired at customers.
Law enforcement officials and Jewish community leaders on Wednesday attributed the breakthrough to years of work by a pugnacious investigating judge, Marc Trévidic, a senior investigating magistrate for terrorism who had taken over the case in 2007. They escaped on foot, shooting as they fled. Then they vanished.
On Aug. 9, 1982, unidentified assailants fired machine guns and hurled a grenade into a lunchtime crowd at the deli, Goldenberg, on the Rue des Rosiers in the Marais neighborhood. The restaurant, which served Ashkenazi food, was in the heart of an area that has been a center of Jewish life for centuries, and had been a popular destination for tourists as well as Parisians. In 2007, a new investigating judge, Marc Trévidic, then 41, took over the case. And on Wednesday, after years of hunting down leads across several continents, the authorities in Paris announced that they had identified three suspects, all associated with a prominent Palestinian terrorist, and sought to bring them into custody.
Agnès Thibault-Lecuivre, a spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor’s office, said on Wednesday that international arrest warrants had been issued for three men in their 50s and 60s, whom she did not identify. Ms. Thibault-Lecuivre said the three were thought to be living in Jordan, Norway and the Palestinian territories, and were suspected of having been part of a terrorist organization run by the Palestinian radical Abu Nidal. In 2002, a Palestinian newspaper reported that Mr. Nidal had been found dead in his home in Baghdad. Agnès Thibault-Lecuivre, a spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor’s office, said that international arrest warrants had been issued for three men in their 50s and 60s, whom she did not identify. Ms. Thibault-Lecuivre said the three were thought to be living in Jordan, Norway and the Palestinian territories, and were suspected of having been part of a terrorist organization run by the Palestinian radical Abu Nidal. In 2002, a Palestinian newspaper reported that Mr. Nidal had been found dead in his home in Baghdad.
The police said at the time that the attack on the Rue des Rosiers, a narrow and lively street now peppered with falafel restaurants and Judaica shops, had been meticulously planned and involved as many as six assailants. An attack in January at a kosher supermarket in Paris, which left four hostages dead, has served as a reminder that Jews remain targets for hate crimes. Both the recent assault and the 1982 attack prompted deep reflections about anti-Semitism in France, as well as demands for greater security and protection at Jewish sites, including synagogues and shops.
During the attack, one of the assailants threw a grenade into the restaurant while the others fired at customers. They escaped on foot, shooting as they fled. The 1982 case spawned no shortage of theories, including that the attack had been the work of neo-Nazis. Others had long suspected that the attack was the work of Palestinian militants during a period of violence in the 1980s. But investigators said that the attempt to do DNA analysis on evidence left at the scene, including a cigarette lighter and cartridges, did not point in any clear direction, and the case remained unsolved.
The attack in January at a kosher supermarket in Paris, which left four hostages dead, has served as a reminder that Jews remain targets for hate crimes. Both the recent assault and the 1982 attack prompted deep reflections about anti-Semitism in France, as well as demands for greater security and protection at Jewish sites, including synagogues and shops. That is, until Mr. Trévidic was put on the investigation, determined to put the pieces together.
Serge Cwajgenbaum, a Frenchman who is secretary general of the European Jewish Congress in Brussels, said that Mr. Trévidic had tirelessly pursued leads, and had helped identify the suspects by dispatching investigators across the world to interview former senior members of Mr. Nidal’s terrorist organization and offering them anonymity in return for information. Serge Cwajgenbaum, a Frenchman who is secretary general of the European Jewish Congress in Brussels and has closely followed the case, said that Mr. Trévidic had tirelessly pursued leads, and had helped identify the suspects by dispatching investigators across the world to interview former senior members of Mr. Nidal’s terrorist organization and offering them anonymity in return for information.
French news reports said that Mr. Trévidic and his team were able to tie the attack to Mr. Nidal’s group with ballistic evidence, as the munitions used by the killers were of the same type that the terrorist organization had systematically used in other attacks. Investigators said that the death of Mr. Nidal had helped clear the way for the informants, who had previously been afraid of reprisals.
Europe 1 radio reported on Wednesday that one of the suspects, age 60, lived in the West Bank city of Ramallah; a second, 63, lived in Jordan; and a third, age 56 and a father of four, lived in Norway. Law enforcement officials said Mr. Trévidic and his team were able to tie the attack to Mr. Nidal’s group with ballistic evidence, as the munitions used by the killers — including grenades and cartridges — came from former Soviet bloc and matched the types the terrorist organization had systematically used in other attacks, including assaults in Vienna, Rome and London in the 1980s.
Europe 1 radio reported on Wednesday that one of the suspects, age 60, lived in the West Bank city of Ramallah; a second, 63, lived in Jordan; and a third, 56 and a father of four, lived in Norway.
“The breakthrough in the case shows that Judge Trévidic is a stubborn man who did not leave a stone unturned in trying to solve this case,” Mr. Cwajgenbaum said. “Some are asking whether the timing of the breakthrough is a coincidence or not, coming so soon after the recent Paris attacks. It is hard to know.”“The breakthrough in the case shows that Judge Trévidic is a stubborn man who did not leave a stone unturned in trying to solve this case,” Mr. Cwajgenbaum said. “Some are asking whether the timing of the breakthrough is a coincidence or not, coming so soon after the recent Paris attacks. It is hard to know.”
“But one thing is for certain,” he continued, “Mr. Trévidic is to be congratulated. This shows that there is no impunity for terrorists.”“But one thing is for certain,” he continued, “Mr. Trévidic is to be congratulated. This shows that there is no impunity for terrorists.”
Since the January attacks in Paris, thousands of soldiers and police officers have been deployed to protect Jewish sites across France, and soldiers remain on alert on Rue des Rosiers, creating a sense both of security and of anxiety among those who crowd the bustling restaurants on the street.Since the January attacks in Paris, thousands of soldiers and police officers have been deployed to protect Jewish sites across France, and soldiers remain on alert on Rue des Rosiers, creating a sense both of security and of anxiety among those who crowd the bustling restaurants on the street.
None of the three suspects have been arrested, and it was unclear when they might be, or, if it came to that, if they would be extradited to France.None of the three suspects have been arrested, and it was unclear when they might be, or, if it came to that, if they would be extradited to France.
Kurt Lorenz, of Nevada City, Calif., whose sister Ann Van Zanten, a 31-year-old architectural historian, was killed during the Goldenberg attack, said that the identification of the suspects had brought a sense of relief after a very long ordeal. He commended Mr. Trévidic.
“It really, really matters that somebody cared,” he said by phone, sobbing. “It has been so long, everyone had sort of buried it.”