By JTA
Mohammed Merah's sister was summoned to a French police station for questioning regarding her praise for her late brother's murder of four Jews.
By JTA
France's main Jewish student union reportedly has petitioned a Paris court to order Twitter to divulge details about users who post anti-Semitic comments.
Israel no longer intends to dismantle the Oslo Accords if Abbas goes through with his UN gambit.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius outraged Tehran by placing the onus of “heavy responsibility” for the recent war between Israel and Gaza terrorists on Iran.
By Soeren Kern
A majority of people in France, according to a new poll, believe that Islam is too influential in French society, and almost half view Muslims as a threat to their national identity. The survey reveals a significant degradation of the image of Islam in France. The findings also show that French voters are growing increasingly uneasy about mass immigration from Muslim countries, which has been encouraged by a generation of political and cultural elites in France dedicated to creating a multicultural society.
Netanyahu will meet with Hollande at 7 AM, NY time, and will focus mainly on the Iranian nuclear program, two weeks after the European Union imposed additional sanctions against Iran. Netanyahu will most likely find in Hollande a sympathetic ally, as France is one of the leading countries in demanding imposing further sanctions against Iran.
Colin Shindler asks why European socialists identify with the cause of militant Islam.
A wave of anti-Jewish violence has taken place in France and Sweden over the past few weeks. The difference in government response is notable, and yet there is something similarly disquieting about their actions. The Swedish government alternately denies the problem, blames the Jews and blames Israel -- it recently funded a book on Israeli "apartheid." The French are more complicated. French counter-terror police have been good at tracking domestic radical Islamists, but the government has made overtly anti-Israel gestures that appear to be nothing so much as "compensation" to its increasingly angry and radical Muslim community and to the Arab world.
By JTA
Desagneaux spoke of “the important archaeological projects that French archaeologists had helped to uncover in Palestine,” including the Qumran Caves.
There was not that much doubt, when reports of Israel bringing down an unidentified drone over the southern Hebron Hills first appeared a week ago, that the spy plane originated with Iran and its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah.
Several attacks on Jews over the Sukkot holiday across France have exemplified a whopping 45 percent reported increase in anti-Semitic attacks in the country in the first eight months of 2012.
By JTA
French right-wing politician Marine Le Pen said she supports a ban on wearing yarmulkes in public in addition to a ban on Muslim headscarves. “Obviously, if the veil is banned, the yarmulke [should be] banned in public as well," the French daily Le Monde quoted Le Pen, leader of the National Front, as saying in […]
Many of the problems of the Middle Eastern states can be traced to the mistakes of the European state charged with developing them between the World Wars. The fierceness with which the Alawite minority - led by Bashir al Assad - will fight to retain control can be explained by their fear of Sunni Muslims. Way back in 1936, Assad's grandfather, Suleiman Assad warned France, which was then the power in charge of Syria, of the dangers of a Sunni Muslim takeover of Syria in 1936. He also spoke warmly about Jewish accomplishments in then Palestine and the injustice of Arab-Muslim violence towards Zionism.
Just recovering from riots in Yemen, Malaysia, Bangladesh, and Iraq, as well as the infamous attack on the US embassy in Libya resulting in the deaths of the ambassador and 3 others, the western world is gearing up for another potential round of violence coming out of Muslim territories as a French satirical magazine promises to publish several Prophet Mohammed cartoons on Wednesday.
The Oslo peace process had “more failures than advantages,” French Ambassador to Israel Christophe Bigot told a delegation of pro-Land of Israel rabbis.
There is no doubting the Islamist revolution in Tunisia.
By Soeren Kern
Areas of France have become lawless and off-limits due to non-Muslims due to Muslim violence. The government has finally embarked on "North-American style" campaign to bring the areas under control, designating an initial 15 areas "Priority Security Zones."
By JTA
A Jewish mother from France locked in a custody battle with a Saudi prince fell to her death from an apartment window in Paris. Candice Cohen-Ahnine died last week, less than a month before she was to see her 11-year-old daughter for the first time in four years. It is unclear whether Cohen-Ahnine's death was […]
By Soeren Kern
The Socialist government in France has inaugurated a new mega-mosque in Paris as a first step towards "progressively building a French Islam." It is not only vast in its dimensions, but is also highly visible and symbolic: its towering minaret, which has purposely been designed to change the suburb's skyline by being taller than any church steeple in the neighborhood, is supposed to become the "new symbol of Islam in France."
By Tarek Heggy
A few days ago, en route to the south of Italy, there was a heated exchange between an Italian chief steward and two Egyptian sheikhs wearing the robes of the Egyptian religious university, Al-Azhar. The dispute erupted over where the sheikhs were to sit on the plane: the steward insisted they sit in their assigned seats in economy class, while they insisted on moving to business class. They relayed their extreme displeasure at what they called European arrogance & inflexibility.
On 5 July, the very day that the Nouvel Observateur was published, a 17-year old Jew was beaten up in a train near Toulouse because he was wearing a necklace with a Star of David. The aggressors were two 18-year old Frenchmen of North African origin who had just applied to join the French army.
The decision was the final ruling in a legal battle that went on for years. On 9 July 2005, the Palestinian Authority called for a worldwide Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Campaign against the Jewish State. The Cour de Cassation, the Supreme Court of France, reaffirmed that publicly calling for the boycott of Israeli products is a case of incitement to discrimination on the basis of nationality.
Israel’s lacrosse team – which did not exist just two years ago – is dazzling the world of sports, defeating Slovakia and France in recent matches to stand 2-0 in its first-ever European Championships. On Thursday, Israel defeated number 17 ranked Slovakia 11-8, and then number 27 ranked France in a drenching rain on Friday. […]
By Guy Millière
Since the killing of three children and a rabbi in the courtyard of a school in Toulouse on March 19 by Mohamed Merah, the number of attacks against Jews in France has exponentiated. French Jews feel very isolated and very vulnerable. They now know that simple things can be dangerous: wearing a skullcap in the street, going to the synagogue alone, placing a mezuzah on a door frame.
By JTA
Two suspects have been arrested in connection with an attack on three Jewish teens in Lyon in southeastern France. The two suspects reportedly turned themselves in to police on Wednesday, AFP reported. The "main perpetrator" of the attack has not yet been apprehended, local police chief Albert Doutre said, according to AFP. The attack, which […]
Austerity policies, which consist mainly of extra taxes, not only keep the European governments from finding long-term solutions to their overspending, while worsening the economic situation; they also make these government increasingly unpopular. Almost 40 years after Arthur Laffer drew his famous curve on a napkin, one wonders why European politicians keep closing their eyes to an evident truth instead of putting in place incentives for growth.
By Soeren Kern
According to a survey of 10,000 French voters conducted by the polling firm OpinionWay for the Paris-based newspaper Le Figaro, an extaordinary 93% of French Muslims voted for Hollande on May 6. The French vote marks the first time that Muslims have determined the outcome of a presidential election in a major western European country; it is a preview of things to come.
The extreme-left Greek Syriza party became the second biggest party in the country on May 6, surpassing the socialist Pasok party. Syriza has a party platform which includes "disengagement from NATO" and "termination of the military cooperation with Israel."
"Edouard Vuillard: A Painter and His Muses, 1890-1940" has opened at the New York Jewish Museum and will run through September 23. The exhibition offers a fresh view of the French artist Edouard Vuillard’s career, from the vanguard 1890s to the urbane domesticity of the lesser-known late portraits.
The virus of antisemitism persists in haunting Europe. In recent months, antisemitism has been exhibited all too often in European countries, not just in theory but in practice.
Following his victory Sunday, the 57-year-old François Hollande shouted himself hoarse, as he had done so often during the campaign, thanking his supporters for electing him president and promising to unite the whole country. But Richard Prasquier, President of the Jewish-French organizations, says one of the changes the Hollande presidency brings is a boost to the anti-Israel left.
Perhaps an artist should be judged without regard to his/her political affiliations or actions, but the Metropolitan Museum's exhibit on the collection of Gertrude Stein and her family purports to present the story of the collection and of Gertrude's life in France. It ends with a misleading description of her activities during the war years, suppressing the fact that she collaborated with Nazism during the German occupation of France.
A sluggish economy and a rising popular hostility to conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy's "American" style do not bode well for the French incumbent in the coming Sunday vote. Add to that the grim international view of France's ability to manage its debt, and it is clear that Sarkozy is in the uphill battle of his […]
The annual Jewish Lag B’Omer pilgrimage to the oldest synagogue in Africa should be maintained as a symbol of Tunisian openness, according to Tunisia’s tourism minister on Tuesday, yet the increase in fundamentalist Salafi Islamic political rule threatens to drive out the remaining Jews of Djerba.
Just ahead of France's presidential and legislative elections, the conservative French government Wednesday unveiled new counter-terrorism measures intended to restrain visits to extremist websites and travel to weapons-training camps abroad. The new measures will be presented to Parliament in the coming days, and may face resistance from the Socialists, who suggest France already has enough […]
By Guy Millière
Once it emerged that the killer of seven people was a Muslim, French commentators ceased to speak of anti-Semitism. Anti-racist associations became silent. All attention focused on the killer, Mohamed Merah. He was presented as a "nice young man" by his neighbors, then as a "petty criminal" who inexplicably drifted, and finally as a "lone wolf" without any significant connection to terrorist organizations.
By Barry Rubin
In the past, the mass media could be expected to present a debate on how to interpret this event but now all too often they give a monopoly to the whitewashers and the apologists.
It has been widely reported that Merah, the young Islamist terrorist who killed three French soldiers two weeks ago, and four Jews at the Otzar HaTorah school in Toulouse, murdered Jews “to avenge the deaths of Palestinian children.” But NPR went one better, reporting — in the words of “All Things Considered” host Robert Siegel — that “the gunman told officials that he killed his victims in part to avenge slain Palestinian children.”
Friday's French newspapers want an answer to one simple question: How was a known Islamic extremist allowed to murder seven people, including three children, in three separate attacks? And the founder of France's elite police unit asked "How come the police's best unit did not manage to arrest a lone gunman?"
By Moshe Herman
Yishai's shares his recent experiences on IDF reserve duty, the tragic murders in France and how we can fight evil. Malkah starts anticipating Pesach, Yehuda HaKohen delves into the history of Gaza. Yishai interviews ZOA Florida Director, Joe Sabag on recent legislative victories. Finally traditional Jewish values meet high tech to provide First Aid in under two minutes.
By Jewish Press Staff Reporter
Three explosions were heard around midnight from the apartment building in Toulouse where the Muslim gunman suspected of murdering Jewish children and their father has been holed up. reporters described seeing Police moving the gunman Mohammed Merah under a blanket to a waiting car and driving away. But then French Interior denied the news.
Thousands of mourners attended the funeral of four Jews murdered in the shooting attack at a Jewish school in Toulouse, France. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe, Interior Minister Eli Yishai, and Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin were among those that arrived at Givat Shaul's Har HaMenuchot cemetery in Jerusalem on Wednesday morning to lay the victims to rest.
According to France 24 News, the French Police have announced that they will storm the apartment of Mohammad Mera - the perpetrator of the Toulouse school shooting that left 4 Jews dead - by 2:30 PM, French time (3:30 PM Israel time) if he does not surrender.
Images from the Burial of Rabbi Yonatan Sandler, his sons Aryeh and Gavriel, and Miriam Monsonego
VIDEO OUTSIDE STANDOFF. The suspect's brother was arrested in an early dawn raid by the Toulouse police. The suspect's mother, an Algerian, is refusing to participate in attempts to coax him out. Police fear for the lives of civilians in the building. The morning standoff is in its 8th hour.
By Jewish Press Staff Reporter
France's interior minister Claude Gueant told reporters at the scene that the suspect has links to Jihadist and Salafist groups. Two French police officers have been hurt during a shoot-out with the suspect. The elite officers were injured during a Wednesday pre-dawn raid in Toulouse.
Catherine Ashton was castigated for her remarks by officials from across Israel's political spectrum. PM Binyamin Netanyahu lambasted her, saying that it was absurd to compare the "intentional massacre of children and an execution-style killing of an 8-year-old with the IDF's defensive and surgical actions meant to harm terrorists who use children as human shields."
The Dutch government is on a collision course with the EU over Israel, and some critics warn that the position of the Dutch will isolate their country in Europe. It is, however, also possible that the Dutch are pioneers, whose example will soon be followed by others.
Surveillance footage from the security cameras at the Ozar Hatorah Jewish school in Toulouse indicate that a video camera may have been strapped to the chest of the shooter, who calmly killed a rabbi, his two children, and the daughter of the school’s principal on Monday. The murderer then escaped on his scooter. He is still at-large.
Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued the following press release: After the appalling murders in Toulouse, the Israeli Embassy in Paris, as well as the Israeli Consulate in Marseille, have contacted the bereaved families and learned of their desire to bring their loved ones to Israel for burial. The government of Israel has therefore decided […]
At a press conference Monday evening, Mayor Michael Bloomberg offered a sympathetic reaction to reports that a gunman killed four people at a Jewish school in France, and linked it with the NYPD's out-of-state surveillance efforts, Capital New York reports. "It’s easy to sit here and say New York City should just take care of […]
The French magazine Le Point reports that police are investigating the possibility that three soldiers, who had been forced out of the French army because of their neo-Nazi beliefs, committed the shocking murders of Arab French soldiers and Jewish French school children. Their description matches an eyewitness report of a facial tattoo.
By Tibbi Singer
Shortly after returning from France, MK Rabbi Israel Eichler (United Torah Judaism) said anxiety surrounds the French Jewish community: "There is a constant tension, the Jewish community is living in a prison-like situation." Eichler said France poses "a great danger to Jews."
By Rafi Harkham
PM Netanyahu: "Israel will do everything to help" find the killer, who had "strong murderous anti-Semitic motive"; UN Human Rights Council "should be ashamed" to host a Hamas official on the day of a terrorist attack.
The victims of the shooting attack on the Ozar HaTorah Jewish school in Toulouse, France have been identified and include 3 children, one rabbi.
France 24 news service reports that the city of Toulouse is on "lockdown" as a group of 50-60 police officers hunt down a suspected drive-by motorcyclist who gunned down at least 4 people outside the Otzar HaTorah Jewish school. Several people - including young children - are fighting for their lives. The daughter of […]
The daughter of the principal of the Otzar HaTorah Jewish school has died as a result of wounds sustained in the shooting attack in Toulouse, France. Official reports currently number the dead at 4.
At least 4 are dead and others critically wounded after an unidentified attacker mowed down Jewish schoolchildren and teachers - at close range - outside the Otzar HaTorah school in Toulouse, France. Included in the dead: a teacher and his two children. Principal's daughter succumbs to her wounds.
AFP has reported that a shooting attack occurred Monday outside Ozar HaTorah Jewish school in Toulouse in the southwest France. Eyewitnesses said three people have been killed. French media reported that a man riding on a black scooter opened fire on the school, killing at least two children and one adult, and wounding several others.
Reuters reports that French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe voiced skepticism on Wednesday that resumed talks between the six world powers and Iran would succeed. He said Tehran was not sincerely willing to negotiate about the future of its nuclear program. "I am a little skeptical ... I think Iran continues to be two-faced," Juppe said […]
Iran announces halt in oil shipments to Britain and France....Iran is set to start operation at Fordo underground enrichment facility....US and British officials caution against Israeli strike....IDF will deploy Iron Dome battery in Tel Aviv area.
By Tibbi Singer
President Sarkozy told an assembly of Jewish dignitaries that Israel and the victim's family must seek justice for the killers in French court.
Turkish PM responded to the bill with threats of additional sanctions on France.
Turkey's Foreign Minister made the offer in a joint news conference with Iranian counterpart.
Government Press Office presents recent findings of Hebrew University professor.
French foreign ministry spokesman: Russian draft "very far from the reality of the situation in Syria."
Yaalon contrasted Obama's stance with that of France and Britain.