France gets even more dangerous for Jews: Here we go again?
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Arsonists burn down Jewish soup kitchen in Paris
By israelinsider staff August 22, 2004
Arsonists destroyed a Jewish community center in eastern Paris in a pre-dawn attack Sunday, leaving behind swastikas and anti-Semitic graffiti. The center, which was totally gutted, served as a meeting place and cafeteria for elderly and poor people.
The center, known to locals as the Don Abarbanel, is located in an old Sephardi synagogue attended and financed by Jews of Greek, Turkish and Spanish origin. The center distributes about 100 free lunches dailly to people in need and provides them with shelter during the afternoon.
Inside the building, police found anti-Jewish epithets: One message read, "Without the Jews, the world is happy." Another said, "Jews get out."
Rabbi Claude Zaffran, visiting the site, said he was "deeply pained and distraught." He told the Associated Press: "We're very worried. The justice system must do all that's necessary so that there are convictions and real, effective sanctions."
A member of the community told the Israel daily ynet: "Every Jew with children needs to leave France. There is no avoiding it. In the end all of us will need to leave."
French President Jacques Chirac condemned the center's destruction and said the government was "determined to find the perpetrators of this unacceptable act so that they can be tried and convicted with the greatest severity" that the law allows.
French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe and Paris Police Chief Jean-Paul Proust all toured the site.
Raffarin promised that the arsonists would receive tough punishments. "I came here today to say that France cannot accept a trivialization of anti-Semitism," the prime minister said.
The Jerusalem Post quoted a local Jew, identified only as Michael, dismissed the visits of top-ranking French officials as public relations gestures. "Each time a Jewish tomb is desecrated or a synagogue burned down, politicians rush to the scene, express their support to the Jewish community and have their picture taken," but lamented that "there isn't a real political will to fight anti-Semitism."
Nimrod Barkan, chief of the Foreign Ministry's foreign ministry's Diaspora department, acknowledged that anti-Semitic incidents had increased in France, but told Israel Radio that the Ministry "is happy with the effort they [representatives of the French government] are making."
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said: "We express our deep concern in light of this debased anti-Semitic attack that occurred in France. We wish to strengthen the French community, and we admire the speed with which Chirac and the French authorities acted. We hope that they take strong action against this phenomenon."
Last Saturday, the words "death to Jews" and a swastika were found on a low wall on the grounds of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. No arrests have been made. A few days before, some 60 gravestones in a Lyon cemetery were desecrated. Policed detained a suspect in the latter incident. |
