Posted on 05/22/2002 10:22:56 PM PDT by God-fearer
The Israeli embassy in Paris burned down in the early hours of Thursday morning, but it was not initially clear what had caused the blaze which started on the ground floor and rapidly swept through the rest of the building.
There were no injuries, and the only person in the building at the time the fire erupted was a security guard who escaped unscathed.
Ambassador Eli Bar-Navi said that the initial estimation was that an electrical short had caused the blaze, but "no possibility is being ruled out. The investigation has not yet begun."
Bar-Navi told Israel Radio that the entire building had been destroyed in the blaze, which began around 2 A.M. Paris time. "We no longer have an embassy. Everything that was inside has gone. What's left is the facade of the building."
Five firefighters were lightly injured while battling the blaze. Dozens of firefighters and fire vehicles were at the scene, as was Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, and Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin.
Access to the scene was completely blocked by police vehicles. Acrid smoke could be smelled in the surrounding area. The embassy is in an exclusive neighborhood of Paris, just blocks away from the fashionable Champs-Elysees and elegant French presidential palace.
French President Jacques Chirac telephoned Bar-Navi and assured him that everything would be done to determine the cause of the fire.
Fire Capt. Laurent Vidert said smoke billowed out the building shortly after the blaze erupted, a possible indication that the fire was electrical in origin. He added that no explosion was heard prior to the blaze. "No indication leads us to believe it was an attack," he said.
Synagogues and other Jewish institutions have been targeted by attacks in France for over a year, which have coincided with an escalation in Middle East violence. In the most serious case, a Marseille synagogue was burned to the ground on March 31.
This was just a horrible (and timely) accident.
The government of France will now be eligible to collect checks from Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia.
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