Fingers Point Over Synagogue Bomb

The U.S. State Department and police officials in Jacksonville, Fla., traded accusations Wednesday about who was responsible for not finding a crude pipe bomb that was planted in a Jacksonville synagogue only hours before former Prime Minister Shimon Peres of Israel gave a speech there on Feb. 13.

Meanwhile, in Jacksonville, a Duval County circuit court judge set bond at $1 million for Harry Shapiro, the 31-year-old Orthodox Jew who was charged on Tuesday with planting the bomb and making the 911 call warning of it.

At the bond hearing, Shapiro’s lawyer, Henry M. Coxe, said that the bomb, at the time it was discovered, “was incapable of detonating or exploding or harming anyone.” He did not elaborate, and law enforcement officials have declined to discuss the bomb’s mechanics or potency.