Attackers set fire to a Jewish community center in southeast France overnight, causing slight damage to the entry hall. The assailants broke a window at the center in the southwestern city of Toulon and doused the interior with a flammable liquid that was then set on fire, police said. Several walls were blackened by flames, but there were no injuries.
| Just another example of the lack of anti-Semitism in modern-day France. |
It was not clear who carried out the attack, but officials note that such violence tends to coincide with rising Mideast tensions. A day earlier, Israel assassinated Sheik Ahmed Yassin. Yves Haddad, who leads the local Jewish community, expressed "disgust and sadness" at the attack, saying it might be "an importation of what's happening in the Middle East. If they wanted to scare us, they made a mistake."
| Good. Can your congregation invoke your Second Amendment rights in France? |
France has been battling anti-Semitic violence for more than two years, often involving attacks against Jewish schools, synagogues and community centers. In March 2002, a synagogue in the nearby city of Marseille was burned to the ground. President Jacques Chirac has put in motion an action plan to fight anti-Semitism that includes extra security at Jewish schools and places of worship, and establishing tough new penalties for those found guilty of anti-Semitic acts.
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