France May Ban Radical Jewish Group

A radical Jewish group known as the Ligue de Défense Juive is facing a potential ban by the French government after it was accused of inciting pro-Palestinian demonstrators in Paris. The LDJ, believed to have 250 members, is a French offshoot of the American Jewish Defense League, which the FBI listed as a terrorist group 13 years ago. On its website, LDJ “rejects the myth of the existence of a Palestinian people.” Synagogues and Jewish-owned supermarkets have been attacked in the Paris suburbs by youths of African origin, and some believe they were provoked by the LDJ. However, the only evidence is that at a march on July 13, there was a fight between pro-Palestinian marchers and young Jewish radicals. In comments to Le Monde, the LDJ said “This is the first time since the [collaborationist] Vichy regime [of 1940-44] that a Jewish organization will have been dissolved in France,” and that it was a message to the (700,000-strong) Jewish community that “its future lies in Israel not in France.” While moderate Jewish groups reject the LDJ, they are asking why the French are not also banning radical pro-Palestinian groups.