FRANCE: France's Jewish community has reacted negatively to Israeli Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon's appeal to French Jews to emigrate to Israel, accusing the Israeli leader of "throwing oil on the fire" and making "stupid, unpleasant and futile" remarks. Lara Marlowe reports from Paris
On Sunday, Mr Sharon told a meeting of the American-Jewish Association in Jerusalem that French Jews should "move to Israel, as early as possible" because "we see the spread of the wildest anti-Semitism there".
The French foreign ministry called the statements unacceptable and demanded an explanation. "(France) said today that a possible visit by the Israeli prime minister to Paris, for which no date has been set, will be examined only when the explanations called for have been provided," a spokeswoman for President Jaques Chirac said. Similar reactions followed, by the defence minister and the president of the French National Assembly. "France is not the Germany of the 1920s," said the socialist party spokesman Mr Julien Dray.
Though French Jewish organisations have often supported Mr Sharon, they were unanimous in denouncing his comments about France. "We cannot accept this kind of speech," said Mr Richard Prasquier, a member of the board of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France.
"The Jewish community is experiencing real concern," he continued. "But throwing oil on the fire in this way is not acceptable."
Mr Haïm Korsia, an associate of the Grand Rabbi of France, said there was no question of French Jews leaving, though the Jewish Agency, which encourages Jews from around the world to emigrate to Israel, reported last month that 30,000 of France's estimated 600,000 were preparing to "make Aliya" (emigrate to Israel). "They are French citizens who are Jews, the way others belong to other religions. We are a part of the soul of this country," Mr Korsia said.
"France is not an anti-Semitic country, and Mr Sharon is settling his accounts with France through the question of anti-Semitism," Mr Yonathan Arfi, the president of the Jewish students' union UJEF told Le Monde.
Mr Sharon was angry that the French Foreign Minister, Mr Michel Barnier, went to see the Palestinian leader, Mr Yasser Arafat, in Ramallah at the end of June. A recent opinion poll showed that 57 per cent of Israelis feel antipathy for France.
France has the third largest Jewish population in the world, after Israel and the US.
Mr Théo Klein, a former president of the Representative Council and a lawyer with dual French and Israeli citizenship, told RFI radio that Mr Sharon's remarks were "stupid, unpleasant and futile".
Mr Sharon's policies were at least partly to blame for the backlash against French Jews, he added. "One of the reasons I would have preferred he keep quiet is that what is happening in France - and in particular the violence that touches part of the Jewish population - is directly related to events under the control of Mr Sharon," Mr Klein said. He pointed out the absurdity of Mr Sharon's using France's Muslim minority as an argument for emigration. "To tell French Jews, 'Watch out; 10 per cent of the population are Muslim. Come to Israel where 20 per cent of the population are Muslim,' doesn't seem like a very logical argument to me," he said.
Mr Avi Pazner, a former Israeli ambassador to Paris who is now a spokesman for Mr Sharon, tried to soften what Le Figaro's front page headline called "Sharon's Affront to France".
"He never, never said France was an anti-Semitic country. He said there were anti-Semitic incidents in France. Sharon calls on all the Jews in the world to come to Israel. It has nothing to do specifically with France," Mr Pazner said.