France
Five arrested as hunt for Strasbourg Christmas market attacker continues
Three people were killed and 13 wounded when Cherif Chekatta, a 29-year-old with a police record in France and Germany flagged for extremism, opened fire at the Christmas market in Strasbourg.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asks Naftali Bennett for a solution after Bennett warns that Israel is unprepared to accommodate 200,000 French Jews who want to make aliyah • Bennett: Israel has a moral obligation to help French Jews come to Israel.
Backlash follows France honoring anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian groups
“Why is there no reference to the human rights of Israelis, who suffer from unceasing terrorism? This prize pushes peace further off and is a mark of Cain on the forehead of the French Republic,” said French parliament member Meir Habib.
‘’The government is fully mobilized to fight against all forms of anti-Semitic hatred and ensure the safety of Jews in France,” French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner told a meeting with representatives of the Jewish community aimed at discussing ways to fight anti-Semitism.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the “conversation was very good and to the point; I would say it was very important.”
French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe reveals that the number of documented hate crimes against Jews in the first nine months of 2018 has increased by more than 69 percent.
“Nothing will obscure or make us forget the Pétain who betrayed, collaborated, and infamously signed and implemented the decree on the status of the Jews,” said French government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux.
The move has led to an immediate backlash from Jewish groups, political opponents and social-media users.
After the shooting in a Pittsburgh synagogue that left 11 people dead, French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner assured that security would be increased in France near Jewish places of worship.
France’s Higher Education Minister Frédérique Vidal brought together key players in the fight against racism and anti-Semitism following the proliferation of tags, graffiti and anti-Semitic expressions in recent weeks in several institutions of higher education.
Famed French Nazi-hunters Serge Klarsfeld and his German wife, Beate, received the highest honors last week in a ceremony led by French President Emmanuel Macron.
Members of the Jewish community in France have expressed their deep concern regarding the broadcast by French public-television Channel France 2 of a report on Gaza that contains a clear anti-Israeli bias.
