PARIS (EJP)--- French interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy was at the Paris great synagogue of Rue de la Victoire on Monday on the occasion of Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonment.

He called this visit a “normal one”. “It is normal for a minister responsible for worship to go to a place of worship at the occasion of a major religious festival,” Sarkozy explained.

He recalled the fact that he has done it for all main religions as last week when he visited the Paris mosque to mark the break in the Muslim fast of Ramadan.

During his visit, Sarkozy met with Gilles Bernheim, the synagogue's chief rabbi.