The prestigious French Catholic weekly, Temoignage Chretien, was found guilty by a criminal court here of inciting racial hatred in an editorial attacking Israel as a “terrorist state” and raising the charge of decide against Jews. Its editor, Georges Montoron, was fined 1500 Francs ($ 300) on grounds that the editorial overstepped the bounds of normal political commentary and contained material likely to arouse anti-Jewish feelings.
The nature of the editorial surprised many because Temoignage Chratlen, though pro-Palestinian in its views, reputedly represents “progressive liberal” elements in the French Catholic Church. French circles were also puzzled by an editorial in the Moroccan government controlled newspaper L’Opinion on May 30 which called the Holocaust a Zionist hoax and claimed that Israeli Premier Menachem Begin was more vicious than Hitler. Morocco traditionally has been moderate in the Middle East conflict.
The French court acted against Temoignage Chretien on a complaint filed by the International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism which was awarded a symbolic one Franc (20 cents) in damages. The three judge panel found Montorion guilty of provoking hatred against the Jewish people by linking Israel’s bombing of Beirut last summer with “operations carried out by the Israeli authorities and Israeli settlers (on the West Bank) who believe they are allowed to kill their Arab neighbors because they are the ‘Chosen People.”
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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.
