Toulouse Shooting Exposes Rift between French Jews and Muslims
HAARETZ: The unease between communities is one of the reasons CRIF dropped out of Sunday's planned march against intolerance.

Several Muslim and Jewish leaders appeared united on French television after the attack in Toulouse, but officials within the Jewish community have no illusions: French Jews and Muslims are deeply divided.

"Don't tell me French Muslims appreciate Jews - 50 percent of them hate Jews," Rabbi Michel Sarfati told Haaretz on Thursday. The rabbi created the Jewish-Muslim friendship group and has traveled across France for several years preaching moderation.

"Many hate Jews because extremist imams denigrate Jews in their sermons. They say we're Israel's puppets. Moderate Muslims try to fight this hatred, but they're being threatened, and they get no support from the state."

The killing in Toulouse has not improved relations between the communities.

One of the Muslim moderates is Dalil Boubakeur, mufti of the Great Mosque of Paris, who was received together with Richard Prasquier, president of CRIF, the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions, and France's chief rabbi at the Elysee Palace on Tuesday.

Boubaker promised Muslims would pray for all the killer's victims, like the Jews did after the school massacre. Many Muslims, in the same spirit, showed solidarity with the Jewish community. But on the whole, there is a feeling the killings only worsened the gap between the communities.

"Look at the Internet forums - some extremist leaders criticize the Jews for getting sympathy after the killing," said Sarfati.

Another member of the Jewish-Muslim friendship association was alarmed by Muslims who admire the killer. "To them Mohamed Merah is a hero. Unfortunately, that view isn't as rare as you'd think," he said. » | Shirli Sitbon | Friday, March 23, 2012

French society seems to have "sacrificed the Jews", says Melanie Philips
MELANIE PHILIPS: A most powerful and disturbing piece by Professor Shmuel Trigano on the parlous state of French Jewry, subjected over the past few years to a shocking degree of physical and existential attack, poses an even bigger question mark over the fate of France itself. Here’s a sample of his argument:

The problem of French Jewry is related, of course, to the emergence on the political stage of a new population, including important sectors that carry a latent antisemitism which has been revived by militant fundamentalism. Because the new population is experiencing significant demographic growth, it is being courted by the political parties. French society seems then to have sacrificed the Jews in order not to alienate French Arabs and Muslims. A fatal choice has been made. French Jews at the crossroads (Read on)

Mark Alexander