Israël beducht voor anti-semitisme in Frankrijk (en)

The Israeli government has released figures showing that 47 percent of antisemitic incidents in Western Europe take place in France, according to a report in Le Monde.

The figures, released yesterday (25 January) also showed that while global incidents in general have almost halved, they have almost doubled in France in the past year.

There were 983 incidents of antisemitism in 2003 - a sharp decline from 1,979 in 2002. The downward trend is reflected in the UK (107 incidents compared to 114) and the US (40 incidents, down from 45 last year).

However, in France, the figure has almost doubled from 77 to 141.

Antisemistism: big problem in France

Presenting the figures in Jerusalem, Israeli minister Nathan Chtcharansky said, "The situation for Jews in France is very problematic. Last year, the number of antisemitic incidents doubled and 47 percent of antisemitic attacks in Western Europe took place in France".

Mr Chtcharansky continued, "The French authorities, who have at their disposal some of the best legislation against racism and antisemitism in the world should apply it and take measures immediately".

The new figures may reignite a recent row between the EU and Israel over antisemistism, which reached its height when a eurobarometre poll of EU citizens was published showing that 59 percent thought that Israel was the greatest threat to World peace.

They will also make interesting reading for the European Commission, which is due to host a seminar on combating antisemitism on 19 February.