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France in denial

The French ambassador to the United States, Jean-David Levitte, was quoted in Suzanne Fields' Monday Op-Ed column, "Back on the menu," as citing a poll showing that many Frenchmen have a favorable opinion of Jews.

That certainly is good news, but it does not really offset the fact that, as Mrs. Fields notes, "anti-Semitic incidents continue to disturb the peace in France."

In recent months, arsonists damaged Merkaz HaTorah, a Jewish school in the Paris suburb of Gagny; the European Jewish Congress reported that during July and August of 2006, there were 61 anti-Semitic incidents, "an increase of 79 percent over the same period last year"; a mob of French soccer fans shouting "Filthy Jew!" assaulted an Israeli man in a Paris restaurant; and speakers at a conference held in November by Conseil representatif des institutions juives de France (CRIF), the umbrella group of French Jewish organizations, reported that "in many suburbs of Paris, few Jewish young people still attend public school because of violence or threats of violence, mainly from African and North African Arab students. Jewish parents have placed their children in private Jewish schools, many of which were established in the past few years."

Last October Mr. Levitte claimed in a speech in New York City that there had been a "48 percent decrease in reported anti-Semitic incidents [in France] over the past year." However, when we questioned the ambassador about his source for that figure, it turned out that the 48 percent decrease was for 2005, not 2006.

For 2006, the government claims just a 3 percent decrease. Though any reduction is, of course, welcome, 3 percent is a far cry from 48 percent. Moreover, the aforementioned reports by the European Jewish Congress and CRIF make one wonder if that 3 percent claim provides a complete picture of the level of anti-Semitism in France.

One year has passed since an anti-Semitic Muslim gang in a suburb of Paris kidnapped, tortured and murdered a young Jewish man named Ilan Halimi. Has the French government undertaken sufficiently energetic measures and committed the necessary resources to effectively combat anti-Semitism in the wake of the Halimi murder? We await the publication of reliable and detailed statistics that will help answer that question.

EDWARD I. KOCH

Member