Sir, – The report on the split in the French Jewish leadership about whether men should stop wearing the kippa after an attack by a Kurdish-Turkish youth on a religious teacher of Hebrew in Marseille is one of the saddest to appear in The Irish Times for a long time ("French Jews divided over call to stop wearing skullcap", January 14th). This dichotomy between Jews like the grand rabbi of Marseille who urged his congregation to be "discrete [about wearing the kippa]...when the crazies are circulating in public", and the president of the central consistory of French Judaism, who vehemently rejected this approach as one of "defeatism", is indicative of the social and political strife afflicting a besieged French Jewish population as they are increasingly targeted by radicalised Muslims.This ancient community was the first to be emancipated in Europe when Napoleon finally granted full political equality in March 1808. It survived through some of the most virulent anti-Semitic rhetoric of the late 19th century, and it survived the horrors of the Holocaust to become the largest and most assimilated Jewish community of late 20th-century Europe.
It is appalling that the simple act of wearing a kippa should single Jews out for attack in 2016, and therefore now more than ever, it has become an imperative that the leaders of the moderate French Muslim community denounce these horrific acts of terrorism. This is a pivotal moment in the oftentimes contentious and confrontational relationship between the French state and its immigrant Muslim population, and it is clear that if there is going to be any solution, then it will occur only under the auspices of strong and brave leadership from within.
In May 2015, Manuel Valls, the French prime minister, appealed to Muslim leaders to tell their communities that “the hate speech, and anti-Semitism that hides behind anti-Zionisim and hate for Israel” is not real Islam. He urged them to tell their communities that this distortion is the construct of “self-proclaimed imams in our neighbourhoods and our prisons who are promoting violence and terrorism”.
It is imperative that this message is reinforced if the French Jewish community that survived so much is to have any future. – Yours, etc,
Dr KEVIN McCARTHY,
Kinsale,
Co Cork.