Israel's Olmert conciliatory on French anti-Semitism

PARIS, June 15 (Reuters) Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert tried to reassure French Jewish leaders today that France was taking a stand against anti-Semitism after recent attacks and a demonstration in a Jewish neighbourhood.

France has seen a spate of attacks this year that French Jewish leaders have denounced as anti-Semitic including the shocking murder in February of 23-year-old Ilan Halimi after three weeks of captivity and torture.

The leader of Halimi's abductors denied that their action had been prompted by anti-Semitism but French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy has said they had shown such motives because they thought all Jews were rich enough to pay ransoms.

Olmert's predecessor, Ariel Sharon, caused anger in France when he urged French Jews in 2004 to emigrate to escape ''the wildest anti-Semitism''.

''This cannot be ignored or obfuscated. In France there have been grave anti-Semitic incidents,'' Olmert said.

''But one must be fair, when it comes to fighting anti-Semitism, there is no greater fighter than President (Jacques) Chirac and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin.'' The Halimi killing and subsequent assaults on Jews have revived public debate about anti-Semitism in France.

In May, shoppers in the traditionally Jewish Marais district of central Paris were shocked when black extremist group ''Tribu KA'' marched through the neighbourhood chanting anti-Semitic slogans.

Sarkozy, who has taken a tough line against racism and who is set to meet Olmert later on Thursday, has asked police to investigate the incident.

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, who hosted Olmert at a kosher banquet at the National Assembly on Wednesday, said that thanks to a government-led crackdown involving ''prevention, enforcement and education'', anti-Semitic incidents in France were down 50 percent this year compared to last year.

''We will pursue this struggle not only in France proper but in Europe and in the entire world,'' Villepin said.

France has Europe's largest Jewish and Muslim minorities and relations between the 600,000-strong Jewish community and the country's five million Muslims have been strained by disagreements over Israeli policy towards Palestinians.

With Zionism founded on the principle of Jewish immigration.

Omert urged his audience to send their children to Israel.

''You live in a great country but we have a homeland and this is their homeland,'' he said.

Chirac gave Olmert a warm welcome at his Elysee Palace on Wednesday, in a sign that relations between the two countries have become friendlier after the row over anti-Semitism.

Israel has been without an ambassador to France for more than a year. Olmert said he would soon be sending one to Paris.

He also inaugurated a monument to non-Jewish French people who tried to help Jews escape the Nazi Occupation.

Earlier this month, a French court ordered the state and railway operator SNCF to pay fines for their roles in the deportation of Jews during World War Two.

Of the 330,000 Jews living in France in 1940, 75,721 were deported to death camps and only about 2,500 returned alive.

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