Report says: Dutch terror suspect hoped to shoot down El Al plane

the hague, netherlands (ap) | A Dutch terrorism suspect arrested in October allegedly hoped to shoot down an El-Al airliner at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, a television program reported lst week, citing police and secret service documents.

Samir Azzouz, 19, was one of seven suspects arrested in four Dutch cities on Oct. 14 on suspicion of plotting a terrorist attack.

Azzouz, the son of Moroccan immigrants, was acquitted in April of accusations he had planned to attack a Dutch nuclear reactor.

His lawyer, Victor Koppe, has said he is also not guilty of the latest allegations reported by the television program Nova.

Nova said it had seen a police dossier of evidence against Azzouz, including reports from intelligence agencies and a video Azzouz allegedly recorded for his family and friends before an attack in which he expected to die.

Hungary remembers Holocaust heroine

budapest (ap) | Hungary’s Holocaust Museum this week organized a tribute to Hannah Szenes, a young woman executed for trying to organize Jewish resistance during the Holocaust.

Hungarian-born Szenes emigrated to pre-state Israel in 1939 and was part of a group of young Jews sent to Europe in 1944 to try to save Jews.

In March 1944, Szenes parachuted into Yugoslavia but was caught soon after crossing the border into southern Hungary.

Tried for treason, she was executed by a firing squad in a Budapest prison yard Nov. 7, 1944.

Among those gathered at the Hannah Szenes Park was Ibolya Scheer, who once shared a prison cell with Szenes.

“Hannah’s soul is the only reason I survived in prison,” said Scheer, 79, who later named her daughter after Szenes.

Others spoke of Szenes’ bravery, exemplified by her refusal to wear a blindfold in front of the firing squad.

“She never feared to face destiny, and that’s what she did when facing the squad before they pulled their triggers,” said Gyorgy Vamos, chairman of the Carl Lutz Foundation, named after the Swiss diplomat who helped rescue over 60,000 Jews in Hungary during the Holocaust.

Convicted Nazi dies in Britain

london (jta) | A jailed Nazi war criminal died in Britain. Prison authorities said last week that Anthony Sawoniuk, believed to be the only person convicted of World War II-era war crimes in Britain, died of natural causes while serving a life sentence behind bars. He was 84.

Sawoniuk was convicted in 1999 of involvement in the massacre of Jews in German-occupied Belarus, where he served as a policeman during the war.

He immigrated to Britain in 1946.