A self-proclaimed commando group of Jewish youths last week raided the office here of a publication of the extreme right-wing National Front, smashing furniture, tearing out telephone lines and destroying part of its archives.
The group, consisting of a dozen young people, left leaflets signed “Jewish Combat Organization — Section Secondary Schools,” and saying it will not “tolerate the anti-Semitic propaganda of a hoodlum like Jean Marie Le Pen.” It warned anti-Semites to “tremble with fear.”
The editor of the publication, Roland Gaucher, said the group burst into the offices of National Hebdo, with faces masked by scarves and wearing helmets. He said the raid lasted less than five minutes and that the group left long before the police arrived.
National Hebdo is a relatively obscure weekly supporting Le Pen’s bid for the French presidency and generally close to his extreme rightwing political movement.
A communique issued Dec. 30 to Agnece France Presse said, “We shall not go into details with a man who termed the Holocaust a historic detail and who dares deny the existence of the Shoah.”
The communique warned that the combat organization will continue to prevent the National Front and “all other anti-Semitic organizations” from carrying out their work throughout the presidential campaign. The elections are due to be held in May.
Jewish organizations have refused to comment on the incident while studying the facts, but Jewish leaders privately say they oppose violence in spite of their opposition to Le Pen and all he stands for.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
