In the Jewish community of Cartier, a suburb east of Paris,
complaints of Arab attacks against Jews are on the rise.
On the night of July 14th when many French people are out in
the streets, a Jew was violently assaulted at a local square
by a group of Arabs. Across the street pillars of black smoke
could be seen rising from the Arab suburbs where young people
celebrated by burning hundreds of cars until thick clouds of
smoke obscured the Bastille Day fireworks.
The next day Jewish store owners contacted Sami Gozlan,
chairman of an organization set up to safeguard Jews from
attacks, and requested police protection. The chairman of the
Jewish community met with the police commissioner, who
admitted the attack was antisemitic, but neighborhood
residents said the Jew was beaten in the course of an
isolated squabble between Jews and Arabs and no police
complaint was filed. The community chairman said the
situation is deteriorating in the suburbs as Arab violence
increases. A clash here, an assault there and Jewish cars are
damaged. Police cars are now patrolling central Cartier.
The same night reports were received that a 19-year-old Jew
has been attacked not far from the site of the previous
attack by two Arabs and taken to a hospital for treatment.
The violence in the mixed Arab-Jewish neighborhood is not
subsiding. A chareidi Jew says that during the short walk
from his home to the shul Arabs let curses fly from the
balconies. In the morning car tires are found slashed, side-
view mirrors are taken off and headlights shattered. The
policemen deployed in the 19th arrondissement treat both the
Jews and the Arabs like violent gangs.
Crude antisemitism in the suburbs may settle down during the
summer vacation if Jews and Arabs don't meet at the vacation
resorts in the mountains, especially since Jews tend to
converge on the kosher hotels in the Alps.
