French authorities have said they will ban pro-Palestinian protests in some cities following violence at a recent march. Jewish-Muslim tensions in France have reached their highest level in years, according to Roger Cukierman, the president of the Jewish umbrella organization CRIF and a vice-president of the World Jewish Congress.
France has Western Europe's largest Muslim and Jewish populations, and Israeli-Palestinian unrest often translates into anger between the communities. After several thousand pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched peacefully Sunday through Paris, clashes broke out among small groups, including some who attacked synagogues, Jewish stores and neighborhoods.
Militants from the Jewish Defense League (JDL) were also involved in violence against pro-Palestinian demonstrators, according to Cukierman. Speaking to the 'Associated Press', he denounced JDL's violent methods and lamented that its actions on Sunday — including provoking pro-Palestinian protesters — could further inflame anger.
Several demonstrations have been held in recent days calling for an end to Israeli air strikes on Gaza.
A march planned in Paris next Saturday is to be banned by police because of "the serious risk of disruption of public order that such a protest could engender, in a context of heightened tension." Authorities have also banned protests in Nice and Lille
"The Jewish population is worried because they are finding themselves cornered on the one hand by the right, the extreme right, which is gaining electoral support, and is still anti-Semitic in its ideology and in its ranks, and on the other hand, by pro-Palestinian forces, by the extreme left, by disaffected youth from suburban housing projects, and by the Muslim population in general," Nazi hunter Serge Klarsfeld said on Wednesday at a memorial service in remembrance of Jews deported during World War II. "History tells us that when there is an anti-Jewish movement we cannot control, the best thing to do is to move to another country," he said.
Cukierman described the current tensions as the worst in decades. During other Arab uprisings in recent years, when anger mounted in France, he said: "We heard death to Israelis. Now we hear death to Jews." He said anti-Arab discrimination in France fed the anger.
Cukierman called for calm, and acknowledged that forbidding protests could be "delicate, because there is freedom of expression."
