Word: jewishness
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...rich exploiters had jibed with the anti-Semitic comments often heard in the racially diverse, economically depressed housing project from which they hailed. Despite the rich-Jew stereotype embraced by many of the accused, the same impoverished milieu from which they came is also home to several large Jewish communities, often founded by Sephardic Jews forced out of France's former North African colonies after independence. These communities have reported mounting tension with their black and Arab neighbors in recent years...
...Ilan Halimi was targeted because he was a Jew and because his tormentors believed he had to be rich and deserved what was coming to him," says Richard Prasquier, president of the Representative Council of France's Jewish Institutions. "This gang attempted kidnapping two people before Ilan Halimi - both Jews. They were not dissuaded upon realizing Ilan worked in a mobile-phone store, didn't earn much and came from a modest family that couldn't be rich. To them, he was a Jew, so he was victimized...
...during outbreaks of violence between Israelis and Palestinians. Prasquier noted the "disturbing surge of [anti-Semitic] acts in January, due to the war in Gaza." Previous outbreaks of Mideast violence in recent years have produced a similar effect in France, which is home to Europe's largest Muslim and Jewish communities - populations of around 6 million and 350,000, respectively. The 936 anti-Semitic acts reported in 2002 and the 974 two years later coincided with flare-ups between Israel and Palestine. Those peaks - and perception among many Jews in France and abroad that French authorities had displayed insufficient concern...
...Even at that time, however, French Jewish leaders denounced Sharon's comments as unfounded, deeming them a misguided swipe at the pro-Arab policies of France's then President Jacques Chirac. Current President Nicolas Sarkozy has made priorities of cultivating strong relations with Israel and fighting anti-Semitism at home - factors that have partially contributed to a slowing of French emigration to Israel. Last year, the number of French Jews moving to Israel was 1,562 - a 33% decline from the 2007 figure, which itself had been down from...
...number of anti-Semitic attacks in France in 2008 dropped for the third straight year, to 397 - even as racist acts directed at other minorities exploded 45% higher. Though the recent violence in Gaza fueled a spate of anti-Jewish aggression in France during December and January, Prasquier is careful to note that "France wasn't unique in this way, because we saw the same kind of action against Jews elsewhere in Europe - notably in England and Belgium...