French President Francois Hollande on Monday said that he would introduce tougher penalties for racist or anti-Semitic remarks in the wake of last month’s terror attacks in Paris.
Speaking at the French Jewish Institutions Representative Council (CRIF) 30th annual dinner, Hollande called for “faster, more effective sanctions” against hate speech, saying: “I want such speech to come under criminal law rather than press laws.”
Hollande said anti-Semitism should be treated as an aggravating circumstance in the prosecution of all offenses.
Photo: EPA
Would-be jihadists would also face stiffer punishment under a draft intelligence bill to be unveiled next month, he said.
The dinner was marked by the absence of the rector of the Great Mosque of Paris, Dalil Boubakeur, outraged over comments by a Jewish community leader, Roger Cukierman, blaming young Muslims for anti-Semitic violence.
Cukierman said he “deeply regretted” Boubakeur’s absence from the dinner, adding: “Jews and Muslims are all in the same boat and I hope that contact will swiftly be re-established.”
Since last month’s attacks, in which 17 people were killed, including four Jews gunned down at a supermarket in Paris, soldiers and police officers have been deployed outside synagogues and Jewish schools.
Last month, the CRIF said the number of anti-Semitic acts doubled in France during last year, with acts involving physical violence leading the increase.
France is home to Europe’s largest Jewish population, estimated to be between 500,000 and 600,000, as well as the continent’s largest Muslim population, estimated at about 5 million.
French migration to Israel hit a record high last year of 6,600 people and many believe the trend will accelerate.
France is still on high alert following last month’s attack by three jihadists who targeted the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine, a Jewish supermarket and police officers in a three-day campaign of terror.
The attacks were the worst in France in decades.
The violence in Paris and more recently in Copenhagen, where two people were shot dead in attacks on a cultural center and a synagogue, has sparked fears of a major threat from radical Muslims.
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