French Jews Are Accused of Exaggerating Recent Incidents of Anti-semitism in France

— The Jews of France were accused today of having “exaggerated” recent anti-Semitic incidents in France and of “exasperating” their non-Jewish fellow citizens. The accusation appeared in a front page article in Le Monde written by Jean-Marie Paupert, a noted writer and philosopher, who stressed that there are Jews in his family and that he cannot therefore be suspected of harboring anti-Semitic sentiments.

Paupert stressed in his article that there can be no comparison between what happened at the time of

the bombing of the Rue Copernic synagogue in Paris last October and the situation which existed in Germany in the 1930s. Such a comparison, he wrote, would seem to indicate that within Jews, “hidden somewhere at the bottom of your souls is a masochistic streak which tries to discern anti-Semitism in order to be miserable and unhappy and to shout for justice.”

The article, which appeared as a “private opinion” column but which was prominently displayed on the paper’s front page, denounced the Jewish Defense Organization, a group of young Jewish militants which became prominent after the synagogue bombing for striking back against those whom they identified as neo-Nazis. Paupert wrote that members of the organization “have behaved like vulgar Nazi hooligans, using threats, libel, sticks and knives.” He added that “I would have been an anti-Semite if I would not have expressed myself clearly on this subject.”

Sources close to Le Monde told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that they received “countless” pleas from readers and contributing editors to express their exasperation with the Jewish community’s reactions following the synagogue bombing. The sources said they finally gave in to the demands, but in the form of a “personal opinion” column which does not necessarily reflect the paper’s own views.