4 1111111111* [World .4114. A I It R I T II INTE It NATI (1 N A L Three Beaten Latest attack on Jews in Paris renews the debate over cause. Paris/JTA ST TANAH TOVAH GREAT LAKES REGION Peter A. Perlman President ()FFICERS Todd Barry Nancy Braun Gary Karp Steve Rotenberg Sid Roth TRUSTEES Rod Brown Patty (-,eresnie Ed Colton Josh Goldberg Rob Kaplan Jeff Le:bowitz Satutra Maurer Marty Melton Stuart. Novick Jerry Olson Lyle Schaefer Rick Shertine Mark Seitz Michelle Soltz Fran White Lila Zorn Stephen B. Zorn Immediate Past President John Rofel Senior Vice President Irnai. Writ!) International Executive Committee R'nai Arline Bittker International Executive Committee www.bnaibrith.org 6735 Telegraph Rd., Suite 304, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48301 248-646-3100 greatlakes a bnaibrith.org A54 September 25 • 2008 Racist motives in the incident are in doubt because police sources reported he father of one of the lat- that one suspect was Jewish. Now offi- est Jewish beating victims cials and the Jewish community, which in the French capital's 19th was also quick to label the attack anti- district has no plans to leave his home Semitic, are facing questions from a anytime soon. Nor does he have any skeptical French public. intention of asking his son Dan to hide The skepticism grew when Paris his religious identity. prosecutors said the teens were not The 17-year-old and two other attacked because of anti-Semitism. teens were wearing kipot when they Five of the six suspects questioned in were beaten Sept. 6 on the same street the assault were indicted for group as another Jewish teen in June. The "voluntary violence the French Press victims suffered minor fractures and Agency reported. The suspects are age bruises. Speaking at the computer 16 to 23. software company where "Did the political world he works, the father, and the organizational Thierry, who asked that his milieu lack caution?" the last name not be used for Le Monde daily asked. VS. security reasons, said he The same article quoted refuses to "let them stop us spokesmen from the Paris from living" mayor's office and the inte- Anti-Semitism in not rior minister's office saying new to the 19th district, they had made their con- the northeastern Paris section that is clusions based on police information home to the city's largest Jewish com- given to them. munity — some 30,000 — made up Prosecutors have maintained that mostly of low-income, Orthodox Jews. anti-Semitism played a role in the June France has western Europe's largest assault against Rudy Haddad. Jewish population, approximately When anti-Semitic incidents rose 600,000. sharply between 2000 and 2004, at Some Jewish community activists the height of tensions between Israel were initially optimistic that the lat- and the Palestinians, the atmosphere est attack — which French officials was often likened to the horrors of the immediately attributed to racism — World War II era, sparking sensitivity would help shift the analysis of ethnic among the French. That tone of skepti- tensions in the poor, immigrant-heavy cism sometimes boils over into hostil- neighborhood. ity toward French Jews, who already This summer's string of violence face accusations of pushing their own intensified a debate over whether anti- agenda at the expense of other minori- Jewishness is a deeply rooted problem ties and of presumably influencing the among the youth in the working-class government. district or whether random Jewish "Because of systematically crying vs. Muslim gang violence instigated wolf, the Jews risk to lose all credit:' by outsiders from nearby ghettos is said one reader comment on the mod- mostly to blame for ethnic tensions erate-left daily Liberation Web site. It and is being overblown by skittish was one of hundreds of postings in French Jews. response to the revelation that one of "We're at a crossroads:' said Raphael the suspected attackers was Jewish. Haddad, 26, the president of the "It's time for the Jews to stop French Student Union, UEJF. "Today, lamenting and for the Jews to stop there are these two theses being debat- continually considering themselves as ed in France and our work is to show victims. Other categories of people can what is due to racist crime and what is more justifiably complain;' another based on simply gang violence." post read, but others "hide their mis- ery." Jewish Attacker? The 19th district suffers from a high T Debate over racism gangs.