Suspected Bomb Found Outside Cape Town Jewish Center

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The device is being probed by the country’s serious crimes unit.

By Canaan Lidor, JNS

The City of Cape Town in South Africa and police are investigating an incident involving an alleged explosive device found at the city’s Jewish community center, the municipality said on Tuesday.

The announcement was about events that first occurred Friday, when what appeared to be an improvised bomb was located near the center, according to a statement by the local branch of the Jewish Board of Deputies, the umbrella group of South African Jewry (SAJBD). The device did not explode, no one was hurt and no damage was caused in the incident.

Following the Board’s statement, local media reported erroneously that no such devices had been recovered, Cape SAJBD executive director Daniel Bloch told JNS on Monday. However, a device was encountered and this has prompted an ongoing investigation led by the serious crimes division of South African police, known as the Hawks, he said.

Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis stated that police are analyzing closed-circuit television footage as part of the investigation. The nature of the device encountered has not yet been confirmed, the mayor said.

“Cape Town is a city of peace-loving people, where differences of faith and opinion are expressed loudly and fully, but always peacefully. Should this investigation confirm an attempted attack, I know all Capetonians will join me in condemning such actions unequivocally,” the mayor added.

South Africa’s ruling African National Congress party has ramped up its anti-Israel rhetoric since the outbreak of Israel’s defensive war against Hamas terrorists in Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023. South Africa has dragged Israel before the International Court of Justice on alleged genocide charges, which Israel, the United States and many other Western countries reject. South Africa recalled all its diplomats from Israel in November of last year.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in May said during a speech: “Palestine will be free from the river to the sea,” prompting criticism by his country’s Jews for allegedly calling to “exterminate Jews from their homeland.”