Jewish attacks hint at deep malaise

[Behind the Aegis]

Outside the kosher grocery shops and grey apartment blocks of Sarcelles, a northern Paris suburb, a softly spoken teacher at a local Jewish school was discussing whether Jews in France should carry guns to defend themselves.

"Everyone is worried about anti-semitic attacks and people don't have faith in the police to protect them. Some have spoken to me about carrying arms. But what would I gain from carrying a pistol? Absolutely nothing," Michael Amer said. He had not travelled on the Metro or suburban trains for four years. "I look very Jewish. I have a beard, I wear a hat, a black suit. It's not worth it," he said. He had been verbally abused in the street for being Jewish and was afraid to let his children play by his apartment block known as "La Petite Jerusalem".

Sarcelles, which is home to 20,000 Jews - the highest concentration of any suburb in France - has found itself at the centre of a wave of national soul-searching about the country's recurring problem of anti-semitism.

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64% of French people think anti-semitism is on the rise in France, according to a survey published by Paris Match this month

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