France earmarks $18.6 million for security at Jewish institutions
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/390403.htmlPARIS - France has earmarked $18.6 million to help boost security for Jewish schools, synagogues and offices threatened by recent anti-Semitic attacks, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said yesterday.
"This is not just a problem for the Jews," he told the National Assembly. "Every time a Jew is attacked because he's Jewish, it's a stain on all of France."
"We are determined to eradicate anti-Semitism in this country," he said, adding that attacks on Jews and Jewish property had fallen by 37 percent between 2002 and 2003.
Also yesterday, Justice Minister Dominique Perben said police in the eastern town of Macon had opened an inquiry after a Jewish singer was harassed with cries of "dirty Jew" and "death to Jews" as she sang a song about Jerusalem last week.
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