Interior Minister Gaston Deferre has asked all the country’s regional governors and police chiefs to apply all available laws to prevent the dissemination of anti-Semitic literature. He called on the government-appointed governors to bear in mind the “dangerous and obnoxious” character of this type of literature and, if necessary, to use their authority to ban its distribution.
Deferre is known for his close contacts with the Jewish community and as Mayor of Marseilles, France’s third largest city, has always tried to cooperate with the local community and improve relations with Israel. He is also in the forefront of anti-racist legislation campaigns.
Meanwhile, Jewish organizations in France today voiced their anger and protest against the terrorist at-
tack on a synagogue in Vienna Saturday in which two persons were killed and 18 were wounded. The Representative Council of Major French Jewish Organizations (CRIF), the World Jewish Congress and other Jewish organizations expressed their indignation. The Jewish Renewal group led by lawyer Henri Hajdenberg called for a mass meeting at the Rue Copernic synagogue where a terrorist bomb explosion last October killed four people and wounded 20.
In Rome, the Vatican radio condemned the Vienna attack as “a new wave of anti-Semitism. It declared: “It is necessary, now as never before, for reason and pity to prevail over hate and political calculation.” The broadcast added that the attack was an apparent attempt to impede “a peaceful solution to the problems in the Middle East.”
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