. 4‘ This Week News Digest Wednesday Blast Deadly Haifa suicide bombing followed many thwarted attacks. NAOMI SEGAL Jewish Telegraphic Agency Jerusalem A suicide bus bombing Wednesday, March 5, in Haifa shattered a relative period of calm in Israel and served as a stark reminder. With the United States stepping up military and diplomatic preparations for a possible strike against Iraq, much of Israel was focused this week on when a war might break out and whether it would affect Israel. But the focus changed abruptly Wednesday when at least 15 people were killed and more than 30 wound- ed in a suicide bombing on a Haifa bus. Heftziba Shetreet, who was in a building opposite the bombing site, described the initial confusion: "In the first few seconds, we thought the war had started," she told Israel Radio. "We felt the explosion right above our heads. "Within seconds, we realized that there was a terrorist attack," she said. We went outside and saw the bus, completely scorched, cloaked in smoke, and the wounded strewn all over. Without thinking, weimmedi- ately ran to help them." It was the first suicide bombing in Israel since Jan. 5, when 23 people were killed, some of them foreign workers, after two suicide bombers launched an attack near Tel Aviv's old Central Bus Station. But Israeli security and political offi- cials stressed the feeling of quiet was only an illusion, and that Israel has thwarted numerous attempted bomb- ings since the Tel Aviv attack. Ya'acov Borovsky, the police chief of the northern district, noted that there were 50 alerts for possible terrorist attacks across Israel on Wednesday, but no specific warnings of an impending bombing in Haifa. Immediately following the bombing, police in other northern communities went on alert for a possible attempt by terrorist groups to stage a string of attacks. Moscow/JTA — A Russian synagogue was desecrated over the weekend. Vandals painted a swastika, the word "death" and a Star of David on a wall of the synagogue in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, Russian television reported Monday. Police have been unable to identify the perpetrators. danger" in French schools, Luc Ferry said Feb. 27 when he announced the initiative. Ferry said the government is setting up committees to monitor and re- spond to racist activity among students. Teachers and principals will no longer be allowed to turn their heads when it comes to harassment of Jewish stu- dents, Ferry said at a news conference. "No forms of racism, even verbal, will be tolerated in French schools." Sill, Okla.; and the U.S. Military Academy are among those joining Shabbat Across America on March 7. More than 700 synagogues from all denominations will participate in a service dedicated to the U.S. Armed Forces. The National Jewish Outreach Program leads the annual campaign to unify the American Jewish community. France To Tackle School Racism Soldiers Mark Special Shabbat Paris/JTA — France's education minis- ter announced a package of measures to combat the growing wave of anti- Semitism in the nation's classrooms. Anti-Semitism has become a "true New York/JTA — A handful of U.S. military bases will join an annual cam- paign to encourage Shabbat observance. Offutt Air Force Base, Neb.; Fort Bragg, N.C.; Fort Belvoir, Va.; Fort Siberian Shul Is Desecrated 3/ 7 2003 18 x4. Police and religious volunteers inspect the charred remains of a bus destroyed in a suicide bombing attack in Haifa on March 5. Slovenia Gains A New Shul- Rome/JTA — For the first time in nearly 500 years, the capital of Slovenia has a synagogue, a Torah scroll and an official rabbi. Government officials, diplomats, and representatives of local Christian and Muslim communities joined local Jews and visiting Jewish leaders at a There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. But Hamas and Islamic Jihad praised the bombing, saying it came in response to Israeli military actions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. As he has done following previous acts of terror, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon blamed the Palestinian Authority for the bombing, saying it had done nothing to stop such attacks. Interior Minister Avraham Poraz of the Shinui Party, a new member of the Security Cabinet, said Israel should not dramatically alter its response 'to terrorist attacks. "We must continue to fight terrorism all the time," he told Army Radio. "There is no difference between an attempted attack — and there are many of these — and an attack that succeeds. "We should not act with an intent for revenge," he said. "We must keep constant pressure on the Palestinians until the moderates understand that they must put pressure on the extrem- ists." Political sources said the relative quiet of recent weeks was the direct result of the Israeli army's ongoing anti-terrorist activities in the West Bank and Gaza. The United States and Britain were among foreign nations condemning the attack. President Bush "stands strongly with the people of Israel in fighting terrorism, and his message to terrorists is that their efforts will not be successful," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said. Earlier this week, both the U.S. and - Britain had criticized Israel for harm- recent ceremony in Ljubljana formally installing Ariel Haddad as the nation's chief rabbi. Attendees also welcomed a Torah scroll donated by members of a British-Slovenian friendship society. Earlier last month, Shabbat services were celebrated for the first time in the community's new synagogue. They were the first synagogue services held in Ljubljana since the Jews were expelled in 1515. Rabbinic Scholar Dies In Israel Jerusalem/JTA — Rabbi Yisrael Ya'acov Fisher, a prominent rabbinic scholar, died in Jerusalem on Feb. 27 at 78. He had served as president of the fervently Orthodox rabbinical courts.