FRANCE IS AS FRANCE DOES:

French anti-Semitism reports surge (BBC, 27 March, 2003)

There was a dramatic rise in reported racist and anti-Semitic acts in France last year, according to the French Government's human rights watchdog.

The National Consultative Commission on Human Rights (CNCDH) said there had been more than 300 registered instances of violence, and almost 1,000 cases of abuse or threats.

Two-thirds of them were anti-Semitic - six times as many as in 2001.

The CNCDH said the incidents, often blamed on young men of Arab descent, were largely connected with the escalation in the Middle East conflict.

The attacks on America of 11 September 2001 are also thought to have fuelled tensions.

It would be naive to think that French support for the PLO and Saddam Hussein is unrelated to historic French anti-Semitism and to a desire to assuage the anti-Semitic immigrant population. Posted by Orrin Judd at March 30, 2003 11:16 AM