1980 Paris synagogue bombing
| 1980 Paris synagogue bombing | |
|---|---|
The synagogue in 2010 | |
| Location | Rue Copernic synagogue, Paris, France |
| Coordinates | 48°52′10″N 2°17′20″E / 48.86934°N 2.28885°E |
| Date | 3 October 1980 18:38 (CET) |
| Target | Jewish worshippers |
Attack type | Bombing |
| Deaths | 4 |
| Injured | 46 |
| Perpetrators | Hassan Diab |
| Motive | Antisemitism |
On 3 October 1980, a bomb exploded outside the rue Copernic synagogue in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France, during Shabbat services. Approximately 320 worshippers were inside the synagogue when the bomb went off outside, killing four people and wounding 46. It was the first deadly attack against Jews in France since the end of the Second World War.
French investigators later attributed the attack to the Palestinian militant group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. At the request of French authorities, Canadian police arrested university instructor Hassan Diab, a Canadian of Lebanese descent, in 2008, 28 years after the attack. After a protracted extradition fight, Diab was extradited to France and formally charged in 2014. He was allowed to return to Canada in 2018 after the charges against him were dropped, two senior French magistrates having determined that he was in Beirut at the time of the bombing.
In 2021, terrorism charges against him were reinstated. Diab was convicted in absentia in a controversial April 2023 trial for the attack.