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| French Jews keep low profile
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A technician tries to erase Swastikas from desecrated gravestones of the Jewish graveyard of Remiremont
Photo: AFP
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Around 20 graves in the Jewish section of a French cemetery were desecrated on Monday, police said.
However, despite several attacks, France’s Jewish community has decided to keep a low profile because of the ongoing rioting in the country.
On Monday evening police were alerted to the vandalism in the cemetery in Remiremont, a small town in eastern France Vosges.
Swastikas were daubed on the tombstones and packs of beer were found near by the desecrated edifices. A police investigation is in process.
"I think that this is the act of youngsters who do not even understand their actions," Jean-Paul Didier, the town’s mayor said.
Low profile
In recent days local community leaders could not be reached and the Central Consistoire, the Paris-based organisation which represents Jewish religious communities around France did not issue any press release.
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A technician tries to erase Swatsikas.
Photo: AFP | "We usually immediately condemn these aggressions through press releases," Consistoire director Frederic Attali told EJP.
"However our security services asked us, concerning an incident that took place last week, at the Pierrefite synagogue (an attack with a firebomb), not to communicate these issues for the moment," he added.
He explained that it was necessary "not to appear" in a period where "the police forces could not do anything more for us" than what they currently do for the French community as a whole. "
“This explains our silence on a national level," Attali said.
When asked if the cemetery desecration could be linked to the current rioting in the French suburbs, he pointed out that "these acts are more the deeds of extreme right militants”.
“We, in any case, wait for the conclusions of the police investigation," Attali added.
Attali said that the local community leaders did not even inform the Central Consistoire about this incident.
According to him, the regional rabbi only knew about it on Wednesday afternoon.
Quiet concern
Local community members have, however, spoken out against the Consistoire’s decision to keep a low profile.
 We mut react, and if there is any type of protest, count on me, I’ll be there
Stephanie Naccache | "I was very moved about the desecration of the cemetery and I really regret that our leaders did not react in a stronger way," Stephanie Naccache, 19, a saleswoman from Aubervilliers, near Paris, said.
"When a Mosque was mistakenly attacked last week, every media and every politician shared their shock in the attack, but when it’s about a synagogue or a Jewish cemetery they keep it quiet," she added. "We mut react, and if there is any type of protest, count on me, I’ll be there."
David Perez, 30, business manager from Paris told EJP he was more shocked by the reaction of Remiremont’s mayor. "He refuses to see the specificity of this act and with these types of statements he trivializes its anti-Semitic character."
"However," Perez said, "by keeping a low profile, we underline our solidarity with the government, at a time where national unity is required.
It’s not the time to have community revendications but it’s a time to be totally apart of France society as a whole
David Perez | “If we start alarming every one right now, we will be seen as paranoid and self-centered individuals who focus on their own interest," he added. "We should keep all these incidents and anti-Semitic acts in mind and bring it back to the table when times will be more appropriate."
"Protesting will not be in the Jewish community interests right now. We ought to be behind our government and understand the urgency of the unacceptable situation of our suburbs." "It’s not the time to have community revendications but it’s a time to be totally apart of France society as a whole," Perez told EJP.
Neither Naccache nor Perez were aware of the attacks against the Pierrefite and Garges synagogues or the one against a kosher fast food restaurant in the 19th district of Paris, last week end.
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