French minister vows to fight anti-Semitism

France's interior minister pledged Sunday to vigorously confront rising anti-semitism in his country, vowing to "make the fight against racism and anti-Semitism a national cause."

Bernard Cazeneuve make the remarks at a rally held in the Paris suburb of Creteil, which was the site of a violent and apparently anti-Semitic attack on a young Jewish couple on Monday.

"The Republic will defend you with all its force because, without you, it would no longer be the Republic," Cazeneueve told a crowd of hundreds of demonstrators Sunday afternoon.

Anti-Semitic acts and threats in France have more than doubled in the past 10 months, said Cazeneuve, who called for authorities to ensure that "none of them goes unpunished."

Some 'already leaving'

"Jews feel in danger. Some are already leaving France," said Roger Cukierman, head of the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF).

In an attack French President Francois Hollande has called "unbearable," several assailants allegedly broke into the flat of a young couple in Creteil on December 2, raping the woman and tying up her boyfriend. The assailants, who made off with jewelry and bank cards allegedly told the male victim that his flat had been targeted because he was Jewish.

"In any case, you Jews, you have money," the assailant allegedly told the male victim. "We know that your brother is the manager of a big clothing chain. We know he has the cash till," one of the assailants reportedly said.

Third-largest Jewish community

With roughly 550,000 Jews, France is home to the third-largest Jewish community the world after Israel and the United States. But in the first three months of 2014, more Jews have left France for Israel than at any other time since the Jewish state's inception in 1948.

France saw a spike in anti-Semitic sentiment this past summer as tensions over Israel's most recent bombing campaign in Gaza led to looters destroying Jewish businesses in and chanting anti-Jewish slogans.

"We feel that something has changed: it's no longer just graffiti or minor incidents, these are death threats [against the Jewish community] Cukierman said in an interview with French broadcaster BFM TV.

"It cannot go on like this," he said.

The number of French Jews who have moved to Israel in the first 10 months of 2014 has more than doubled compared to last year, a leading Jewish agency said last week, attributing the spike to a sluggish economy and a rise in anti-Semitic sentiment.

bw/ipj (AFP, Reuters)