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'Israel, stop stoking anti-semitism'

Adam Sage | The Times (UK) via The Australian (http://www.theaustralian.com.au/) | 31 December 2016

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/the-times/israel-stop-stoking-antisemitism/news-story/3e3e3c7a450b9b8f1f1beadb2732e36c?nk=5210ea90b0ec71d2453bb016f53292c9-1483169525 (https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0ahUKEwiUuJ3_9J3RAhWKm5QKHdNSDTkQqQIIHDAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theaustralian.com.au%2Fnews%2Fworld%2Fthe-times%2Fisrael-stop-stoking-antisemitism%2Fnews-story%2F3e3e3c7a450b9b8f1f1beadb2732e36c&usg=AFQjCNEyPCxnmxdafw0jzdTr4Yz-IuhHGw&sig2=S5dOJG72G2uIHcsI489g7g)

Extract: Israel's controversial defence minister has been accused of stoking antisemitism following his claim that Jews should leave France if they want to practise their religion.

Leaders of France's Jewish community fear that Avigdor Lieberman's outburst will inflame religious tensions.

Mr Lieberman, 58, head of the right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu party, told Jews that France was an inhospitable land where they would be forced to abandon their religion.

His comments provoked a furious reaction from Jews in France, who fear a rise in far-right antisemitism as a result.

He was speaking after Paris announced plans to stage a Middle East peace conference next month. The plan is opposed by Israel's government, which says it prefers direct negotiations with Palestinian leaders, but Mr Lieberman expressed his hostility in particularly virulent terms.

He said the conference would put Israel in the dock ....

Mr Lieberman said: "It might be time to tell the Jews of France, 'That's not your country, it's not your land' . . . If you want to stay Jewish and keep your children and grandchildren Jewish, leave France and move to Israel." Francis Kalifat, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France, denounced the comment as unacceptable.

"It is historically inaccurate to say to French Jews that France is not our home," Mr Kalifat said. "We have been in France for 2,000 years and we have had full citizenship since 1791. We are French with no problem." He said French Jews feared that Mr Lieberman's comments would be exploited by ultra-right antisemites who have long maintained that they are not really French. "Unfortunately comments of this kind play into their hands," he said.

In recent years antisemitism from far-right groups has waned, only to be replaced by hostility from sections of the Muslim community.

Police registered 808 antisemitic acts in 2015, when a record 7,835 Jews left France to set up home in Israel.