Anti-Semitism surges: Muslim, Jewish, and Catholic leaders appealed for calm in France this week after synagogues were firebombed in three cities. “We are all working so we do not fall into the trap of tensions between Muslims and Jews,” said Mohamed Moussaoui, head of the French Council of the Muslim Faith. Attacks on Jews and Jewish property have surged in France since Israel began its offensive in Gaza, recalling a similar wave of anti-Jewish violence at the start of the 2000 Palestinian uprising. The French Jewish Students Union has published a list of 46 anti-Semitic acts over the past three weeks, including beatings of Jewish youths and graffiti that says “Death to Jews.” France has Europe’s largest Muslim community, of at least 5 million, as well as its largest Jewish community, of 600,000.
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