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November 21, 2003/Cheshvan 26 5764, Vol. 56, No. 9
France gets tough on anti-Semitism
PHILIP CARMEL
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
PARIS - Three years of attacks on Jewish targets in France finally came to a head this week with the arson attack on a Jewish school near Paris.
When firefighters were called to the Mercaz Hatorah school in the northern Parisian suburb of Gagny early in the morning on Nov. 15, word about the arson reached the highest echelons of the French state.
The response from govern-ment leaders was that enough was finally enough.
"When a Jew is attacked in France, the whole of France is attacked," French President Jacques Chirac said.
Chirac's reaction, both ver-bal and legal, earned the praise of Jewish community leaders.
"Jacques Chirac is someone who hates anti-Semitism and hates anti-Semites," said Haim Musicant, executive director of the CRIF umbrella organization of French Jews. "He has understood that French Jews are no longer able to stand the situation, and he has put his foot down."
Another Jewish official said it was important that the French president has been seen to act because of "the credibility France has with the Arab world."
Anti-Semitism in France has reached epidemic proportions since the beginning of the Palestinian intifada in September 2000. Most of the attacks on Jews have been blamed on young French Muslims.
Last year, around three-quarters of all racially mo-tivated attacks in France targeted Jews, according to official government figures. The attacks reached a peak in spring 2002, when Israel invaded the West Bank following mounting waves of terrorist attacks.
The government and Jewish organizations say the number of anti-Semitic incidents has fallen in recent months.
Nevertheless, recent attacks on Jews and community institutions have taken a distinctly more violent tone, and community leaders have been pushing the government to act.
France's interior and education ministers quickly arrived at the site of the school fire, and Chirac summoned them and three senior colleagues to an emergency meeting on anti-Semitism at the Elysee Palace.
Within an hour of the meeting on Nov. 17, the government announced a get-tough policy to deal with perpetrators of anti-Semitic attacks. It also set up a Cabinet committee - to be chaired by Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin - to deal with the issue.
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