The French government on Sunday vowed to make the fight against anti-Semitism a "national cause", following an attack on a Jewish couple last week.
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve spoke at a rally in the Paris suburb of Créteil where the attack took place last Monday. Three assailants forced their way into an apartment, tied up a young man and woman, demanded money and then raped the woman. One of the attackers allegedly told the male victim "you Jews, you have money".
There has been a sharp increase in the number of anti-Semitism attacks in France in recent months. Cazeneuve told hundreds of demonstrators that the government would defend France's Jewish community with "all its force".
"We must make the fight against racism and anti-Semitism a national cause," he said. "The Republic will defend you with all its force because, without you, it would no longer be the Republic," he added.
Roger Cukierman, the president of France's umbrella group for Jewish organizations CRIF said anti-Semitism was an increasing problem in France. "Jews feel in danger. Some are already leaving France," he said at the rally. "We feel that something has changed: it's no longer just graffiti or minor incidents, these are death threats. It cannot go on like this."
France has the largest Jewish community in Europe and the third-largest in the world. According to government figures anti-Semitic acts more than doubled in the first months of 2014 compared with the previous year.
