Attacks on two synagogues

The Neve Shalom synagogue, in Galata, and Beth Israel, in Şişli, are the two principal places of worship of the Jewish community of Istanbul, heir to the Sephardim welcomed by the Ottoman Empire after the expulsion from Spain. On November 15, 2003, a Saturday morning, two car bombs exploded almost simultaneously in front of their doors, while bar mitzvah ceremonies were taking place inside. The synagogue walls protected the worshippers better than the street did: most of the dead were Muslim Turkish passersby from the neighborhood. Five days later, the same networks struck the British consulate and a bank in the city. Neve Shalom had already been attacked twice in the preceding decades; it has since remained under permanent protection.