Rabbi Eli Dehan was beaten at the Gard du Nord, a train
station in northern Paris, by an Arab youth who assaulted him
verbally, kicked him and knocked him to the ground before
police intervened. The attack was apparently related to
tensions and Muslim incitement on the eve of last Sunday's
elections in France.
A Muslim cemetery was desecrated and police arrested a
suspect who allegedly desecrated five gravesites at the
Jewish cemetery in Lille.
Royale and Sarkozy advanced to the second and final round
following Sunday's elections. French Jews denounced an
Israeli newspaper for publishing an interview with extremist
Jean-Marie Le Pen, who is now out of the running after
winning just 10 percent of the vote. Jewish radio stations
and newspapers have been boycotting the right-wing
presidential candidate, who claims that some Jews vote for
him.
"Do not vote for Sarkozy or Royale," Muslim organizations
warned their members before the elections, and the Muslim
press has been describing the two candidates as pro-Israeli
and pro-American. Instead Muslim organizations endorsed
central candidate Francois Bayrou in a bid to halt the two
leading candidates.
Bayrou was the only candidate who agreed to an interview with
a Muslim television station despite its antisemitic
broadcasts and firm stance against Bush and the war in Iraq.
He also promised not to ban Muslim head coverings in schools,
allowing principals to decide whether to permit them. Le
Monde reported Bayrou campaign workers even went house-to-
house in Paris and the suburbs, warning families if they
voted for Sarkozy "he would send their sons to die in a war
against Iran alongside the Americans."
