Word: prasquier
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...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...
...plague," of course, is also boosted by a tendency to hold France's Jews responsible for Israel's actions: anti-Semitic attacks here tend to spike 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...
...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...
...recently in facing up to its darker history under Nazi occupation, France is showing clear intent to confront rather than deny anti-Semitism - as much of the commentary regarding Halimi's murder indicates. French Jews are not ready to claim that anti-Semitism is no longer a problem, but Prasquier says most now do feel that things are moving in the right direction...
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