Identifier | Created | Classification | Origin |
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04PARIS6076 | 2004-08-17 08:46:00 | UNCLASSIFIED | Embassy Paris |
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available. 170846Z Aug 04 ACTION EUR-00 INFO LOG-00 AID-00 AMAD-00 CIAE-00 INL-00 DODE-00 EB-00 UTED-00 H-00 TEDE-00 INR-00 IO-00 L-00 NSAE-00 NSCE-00 OIC-00 PA-00 GIWI-00 PRS-00 P-00 SCT-00 SP-00 SS-00 STR-00 TEST-00 TRSE-00 FMP-00 R-00 PRM-00 DRL-00 G-00 NFAT-00 SAS-00 /000W ------------------50F4CB 170858Z /38 FM AMEMBASSY PARIS TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5401 INFO EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE |
UNCLAS PARIS 006076 |
1. (SBU) Summary: France has seen a rash of hate crimes resulting in the desecration of nearly 400 Jewish and Muslim tombs since the beginning of the year. Most recently, 56 Jewish graves were painted with neo-Nazi symbols and xenophobic slogans in Lyon on August 8, although recent developments in this case raised questions about the motives behind an apparently obvious anti-Semitic hate crime. The previous week, 15 Muslim tombs in Strasbourg were vandalized with neo-Nazi graffiti. The GOF immediately and forcefully denounced both desecrations at the highest levels; however, those affected seem dissatisfied with mere condemnations in light of continued incidents. These latest acts further validate what the Minister of Interior in May called "a resurgence -- notably among some youths -- of neo-Nazi ideology fed by hatred and ignorance." End summary. 2. (U) On the night of August 5, in a military cemetery in Strasbourg, the graves of 15 Muslim soldiers killed in the liberation of eastern France were defiled. The tombs were painted with swastikas, SS signs, and the acronym "HVE junior," making reference to the neo-Nazi organization known as the Alsatian Patriotic Association ("Heimattreue Vereinigung Elsass," in German) which was banned in 1993 for anti-Semitic crimes. (Note: Five other headstones -- four Muslim and one Jewish -- were previously desecrated in the same cemetery in April. End note.) French and foreign media have begun to highlight the rise of xenophobia and neo-Nazism, particularly in Alsace, an area that includes Strasbourg and has historically been passed back and forth between France and Germany. 3. (U) Also on August 5, an individual identifying himself as "Phineas" claimed responsibility for an attack in the town of Villeurbanne, near Lyon, on a person of North African origin that left the victim hospitalized. During the night of August 8, three days after the attack in Villeurbanne, 56 graves in a Jewish cemetery in Lyon were scrawled with swastikas, Celtic crosses, and slogans glorifying Hitler and, incongruously, proclaiming "resistance to the Islamic invasion." In addition, the name "Phineas" was painted in several places and a hatchet found at the cemetery was linked through DNA analysis to the Villeurbanne attack, leading police to suspect the two attacks were related. 4. (U) On August 15, a 25 year-old recently unemployed Frenchman turned himself in to a police commissariat in Paris, alleging to be the "Phineas" responsible for both incidents. Claiming that he had been "persecuted," the suspect indicated that he decided to "react against the Islamic invasion." The man in custody, recently identified as Michael Tronchon, stated that after the attack in Villeurbanne, he desecrated the Jewish graves in Lyon, including painting the phrase "resistance to the Islamic invasion," in order to obtain a greater "audience." According to media accounts, "Phineas" considered the French extreme right too weak and reportedly decided to act out on his own, inspired by a documentary on U.S. neo-Nazi groups. (Note: The name "Phineas," has been associated with right-wing anti-Semitic and racist violence in the U.S., including the deaths of 11 people involved in biracial relationships between 1970 and 1980 and the 1999 attack on a Los Angeles Jewish community center. End note.) 5. (U) The GOF reacted quickly to the Lyon and Strasbourg desecrations. Justice Minister Dominique Perben visited the Lyon site while President Chirac condemned the "vile profanation" and Prime Minister Raffarin called the attack odious. Similarly, Interior Minister de Villepin "condemned with the greatest resolution" the Strasbourg attack and Chirac, in an open letter to the head of the Muslim council in Strasbourg, proclaimed his "absolute determination to fight this plague." However, this did not appear to appease leaders of both the Muslim and Jewish communities. According to the Chief Rabbi of Lyon, Richard Wertschlag, "a crackdown is needed to make these people realize the consequence of their acts." Similarly, the rector of the Strasbourg mosque, Abdellah Boussouf, stated emphatically, "I can no longer be content now with the condemnations and solidarity pledges of political rulers. I want results. France's Muslims as a whole have the feeling they are considered second-class citizens." 6. (SBU) Comment: The fact that many of the recent cemetery desecrations have involved the tombs of soldiers or monuments in honor of those who died in World War II have led some in the media to speculate that the attacks may be related to the 60th anniversary of the battles that liberated France from Nazi occupation. However, the early reports concerning the suspected perpetrator of the Lyon desecration seems to indicate that he used the attack on the Jewish cemetery to gain further attention for his own anti-Islamic agenda. Before the arrest of "Phineas," Israeli Embassy contacts had attributed the cemetery desecrations to a rising neo-Nazi extremist minority, which has added to a general unease in France's Jewish community (see reftel). Even if it turns out that the motive in Lyon was actually anti-Islamic, Jewish anxiety is still justified in light of numerous other cemetery attacks and, most recently, the August 14 discovery of graffiti declaring "Death to Jews" on a part of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Whether these recent attacks are part of a larger resurgence in the extreme right -- including both traditional neo-Nazis and other anti-Semitic, anti-Islamic, racist, and xenophobic elements -- remains to be seen. For its part, the GOF has attempted in recent months to combat racism, anti-Semitism, and xenophobia in a number of ways, including establishing new educational curriculum aimed at combating bigotry in school-aged children, hosting an OSCE conference on the connection between such crimes and the Internet in June, and announcing in July the formation of a special Ministry of Interior project to combat cyberterror. However, it is evident that, while the GOF is both public and vociferous in its condemnations of such acts, those who are victims want to see more in the way of results. End comment. Wolff NNNN |