ILL-CHOSEN METAPHOR AWARD - FIRST PRIZE: PARIS (May 23, 2002 6:38 a.m. EDT) - An intense fire destroyed the stately Israeli embassy in Paris early Thursday. Officials doubted it was arson or related to a recent wave of anti-Semitic attacks in France. ... "It was like a pottery oven in there," Fire Capt. Laurent Vibert said afterward.