The head of France’s domestic intelligence agency said Tuesday that statistics did not support reports of a sharp rise in anti-Semitic attacks in France.
Yves Bertrand also told French radio BFM that most of a rash of attacks against synagogues and Jewish schools were to blame on Muslim youths angry over Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, rather than members of extremist political groups.
“I see a surge in anti-Semitism which is above all very widely reported by the media, which means that people are talking about it a lot, but statistically there are not many more cases than in previous years,” Bertrand said.
Bertrand did not specify which period he was referring to.
France registered 109 anti-Semitic acts and 392 threats in the first 11 months of 2003, a drop of 43 percent and 45 percent respectively from 2002 as a whole, according to Interior Ministry figures.
Jewish groups in Israel and the United States have accused Paris in recent years of reacting too slowly to attacks against Jewish schools, shops and synagogues.
They have also objected to strong electoral scores for the far right and to perceived anti-Israel bias on the French left.
The conservative government which took power in May 2002 has taken a tough line against racist and anti-Semitic acts amid growing concern about the country’s failure to fully integrate its five-million-strong Muslim community, the largest in Europe.
President Jacques Chirac was expected Wednesday to announce a ban on wearing Muslim headscarves and other religious symbols in French state schools.
Last month, he launched a commission to fight anti-Semitism, while the government announced a $7-billion urban regeneration project targeting the poor neighborhoods of big cities where racial tensions often spill into violence.
“The anti-Semitism we are seeing, namely against synagogues or Jewish schools in suburbs, is often an anti-Semitism based on events seen on television and which is not based on a very strong political affiliation,” said Bertrand.