1982 Rome synagogue massacre: terrorists found more than forty years later
Two-year-old Stefano Gaj Taché died. Forty people were injured. Now the Rome Public Prosecutor's Office brings one of the most lacerating dossiers on terrorism in Italia back to the centre
Key points
Forty-two years of judicial silence. Then five names, five notices of conclusion of investigations, and a dossier that burns again: the attack on the Rome Synagogue on 9 October 1982. On that day, a commando of Abu Nidal's organisation threw hand grenades and fired machine-gun bullets at Jewish worshippers who were coming out of the secondary gate of the Major Temple on Via Catalana, at the end of the religious service. Two-year-old Stefano Gaj Taché died. Forty people were injured. Now the Rome Public Prosecutor's Office is bringing one of the most lacerating dossiers of terrorism in Italia back to the centre: the five suspects are held co-responsible for that action. The contested roles range from decision-making and supervision to logistical organisation and operational contribution.
The Paris Trail, the Joint Investigation Team and the Names
The new investigations - conducted by the Digos in Rome and the Central Directorate of the Prevention Police - started from elements that emerged in Paris on the 2 August 1982 attack on the 'Jo Goldenberg' restaurant in the Jewish quarter of the 4th Arrondissement: six dead, more than twenty wounded, including four Italians, an attack traced back to the same organisation.
The thread linking Rome and Paris has guided cooperation with the French counter-terrorism pole, leading to the creation of a joint investigation team on 8 February 2023. The investigations have cross-referenced technical activities, testimonies, documents, pre-trial and trial acts of the time, diplomatic and journalistic sources, and public and private archives. They also acquired a memorandum filed on 14 June 2022 by the Jewish Community of Rome. And they came up with five names: Abou Zayed Walid Abdulrahman, 68, detained in France and already on trial for Rue des Rosiers; Abed Adra Mahmoud Khader, 71, resident in the West Bank; Al Abassi Souheir Mohammad Hassan Khalil, 74, resident in Jordan; Hamada Nizar Tawfiq Mussa, 65, resident in Jordan; Abu Arkoub Omar Mahdi Abdel Rahman, 66, resident in Jordan.
Alleged concurrence also with Alhameida Rashid Mahmoud alias Fouad Hijazy, Maher Said and Al Awad Yousif alias Arabe El Arabi Tawfik Gamal, all deceased.
The investigation did not start from nothing. At the time, the Rome Court of Assizes had already sentenced the fugitive Palestinian, Osama Abdel Al Zomar, to life imprisonment - with a sentence of 23 May 1989, irrevocable from 11 May 1990 - for complicity in the attack. The new investigation built on that foundation and extended it.
