April 04, 2008
30/3/2008- CRIF, the umbrella group of French Jewish organizations, said anti-Semitic acts in France, which declined in 2007 according to a an official human rights commission, are taking increasing violent forms. The governmental National Consultative Commission for Human Rights (CNCDH) said Friday in its annual report to French Prime Minister François Fillion that the number of racist, xenophobic and anti-Semitic incidents in France dropped by nearly a quarter last year. However, it said racist propaganda is on a growing rise on the internet. In 2007, 707 racist, xenophobic and anti-Semitic attacks, threats and other incidents were registered, a 23.5 percent drop from the previous year. But the commission reacted cautiously to the decline, saying that the figures were still higher than those registered during the 1990-2000 period. There was notably a decline in anti-Semitism, with 386 incidents registered in 2007, almost a third fewer than the previous year. The commission had reported a 35 percent jump in the number of anti-Semitic attacks and other incidents between 2005 and 2006. In a comment to the report, CRIF, the representative body of Jewish organizations in France, mentioned an increase of violent physical agressions against minors and young people.
No link to Israeli-Palestinian conflict
"Although on a decline in 2007, anti-Semitism took a structural form and is no more linked to particular situations. Anti-Semitic acts appear to be disconnected from references to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. One notes a return to more traditional anti-Semitic formulations targeting religion, the notion of race and the link between Jews, power and money," CRIF said. Marc Knobel, researcher at CRIF, noted in the CNCDH report a "real explosion of racist, anti-Semitic, Holocaust denial and Jihadist propaganda on internet." In 2007, 671 cases of racism and anit-Semitism on internet have been provided to a central office fighting criminality linked to information technologies. "Hower there was almost no juduciary follow-up, " Knobel said. He called on Prime Minister Fillon to create a body monitoring and tracking racism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia on internet. The CNCDH report said France's North African immigrants are targeted more than other groups by hate violence.
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