In the United Kingdom, police deem synagogue attack as terrorism
Police categorized a Thursday Manchester synagogue attack as terrorism when a man plowed a car into a crowd and stabbed people, killing two and injuring three during the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur.
Greater Manchester Police identified the suspect as 35-year-old Syrian British citizen Jihad Al-Shamie, who was fatally shot by officers on scene. Police also said Al-Shamie was wearing a vest with what appeared to be an explosive device, though they confirmed it was nonviable. “Operation Plato,” the United Kingdom’s emergency protocols for terrorist attacks, was enacted shortly after the incident and withdrawn once the threat was contained.
“UK policing is mobilizing, and it’s mobilizing fast,” Laurence Taylor, U.K. head of counterterrorism policing, said in a statement. “Police forces are stepping up patrols across the country, at synagogues and Jewish sites and more widely to provide reassurance to all those communities who have been affected.”
Manchester holds nearly 30,000 Jewish residents, making up the country’s second largest Jewish community. U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer was in Denmark for a European summit on migration at the time of the attack, but left early to visit the synagogue with his wife, as reported by the BBC.
In the Czech Republic, election brings uncertainty over support for Ukraine
The Czech Republic’s parliamentary election on Friday and Saturday could lead to the loss of a key Ukrainian ally against Russia.
Andrej Babiš, a billionaire from the right-wing populist party ANO who served as prime minister from 2017 to 2021, has been leading the poll for the country’s next prime minister. With roughly 30% polling support, Babiš is predicted to win but would need to form a coalition with partners, such as the Enough communist coalition and the far-right Freedom and Direct Democracy party, to govern.
Unlike Babiš, who said the country should remain in the European Union and NATO for economic reasons, both coalitions are known for their pro-Russia and anti-EU and NATO ideology. The Freedom and Direct Democratic Party has also pushed to remove most of the Czech Republic’s 380,000 Ukrainian refugees.
Babiš called President Donald Trump’s return to the White House a “sensational comeback” that would end Russia’s war against Ukraine. During the 2019 parliamentary election, Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan inspired Babiš’ “Strong Czechia.”
“We’ll never drag the Czech Republic to the East. I can absolutely rule that out,” Babiš told a crowd of elderly supporters in Kladno. “We weren’t the ones who sat down with Putin — we were the ones who expelled Russian diplomats!”
In Italy, 21 forged artworks confiscated
Italian police seized 21 pieces of art from an exhibition in Parma’s Palazzo Tarasconi suspected to be forgeries of tapestries, drawings and engravings by surrealist Salvador Dalí.
The exhibition, “Salvador Dalí, between art and myth,” was shown in Rome’s Museo Storico della Fanteria for the first half of the year and opened in Parma on Sept. 27 with about 80 pieces.
Doubts over the works’ authenticity arose in January after routine checks of the exhibition by officers in Rome. In a recent tip from the non-profit foundation created by Dalí — which is also contributing to the investigation from its office in the Spanish autonomous community Catalonia — police were informed of suspected oddities in the artwork when the show was open in Rome. Italy’s carabinieri art squad confiscated the works on Wednesday morning after obtaining a judge’s warrant.
“During the inspection, the kind we generally do at museums, something seemed to be amiss,” Diego Poglio, the senior officer leading the investigation, told The Guardian. “We noticed that only lithographs, posters and drawings by Dalí were on display, along with a few statues and other objects, but no paintings or anything of importance. It was difficult to understand why someone would want to organize an exhibition of such low-value works.”Dalí is one of the most forged artists in world history, alongside Vincent van Gogh and Amedeo Modigliani. Poglio emphasised that the investigation was in its preliminary phase and no suspect has been identified yet.
Contact Eva Mundo at [email protected].
