Was the Venezuela Synagogue Attack a New Kristallnacht?

I don't think so. But Abe Foxman does. The national director of the Anti-Defamation League had this to say about the defiling of a Caracas synaogue, in which Torahs were desecrated but no one was hurt:

Just days after the international community commemorated the Holocaust in ceremonies of remembrance throughout the world, a synagogue in Caracas was the scene of a modern day Kristallnacht.  For five hours, violent anti-Semites profaned and vandalized the most sacred space and objects of Jewish life, leaving behind graffiti that said "Get out," "Death to All," and "Damn Israel, Death."  This violent attack occurring on the Jewish Sabbath is reminiscent of the darkest days leading to the Shoah, when Jews were attacked and synagogues and Torahs vandalized and destroyed under the guard of the Nazi regime.

I respect Abe Foxman, but this is a bit much. Jews tend not to like it when people such as Pat Buchanan compare Israel to the Nazis, or when Europeans call Gaza a concentration camp. Israel isn't Germany, and Gaza isn't a concentration camp. And what happened in Venezuela the other day wasn't Kristallnacht. It doesn't take anything away from the horror of the event to say that. Let's save the Nazi analogies for the really big things, no?

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2009/02/was-the-venezuela-synagogue-attack-a-new-kristallnacht/9481/