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France Faces a Surge of Anti-Semitic Attacks
(The Times-UK) Adam Sage - France announced the creation of a hate crimes police unit Wednesday after 107 graves at Westhoffen Jewish cemetery in Alsace were daubed with swastikas and anti-Semitic graffiti, the latest of several similar attacks in the region and in France as a whole. President Macron condemned the desecration of the 16th-century cemetery, saying, "Anti-Semitism is a crime and we will fight it in Westhoffen and everywhere else until our dead can sleep in peace." Over the past year swastikas have been painted on 96 Jewish graves in Quatzenheim cemetery and 37 in Herrlisheim cemetery. The number of anti-Semitic acts registered by French police was up 74% in 2018 compared with the previous year, a trend attributed by many observers in part to animosity towards Jews from within France's Muslim community. Some academics say Alsace is no more anti-Semitic than other French regions, but simply has more Jewish cemeteries. Others say it has a long history of anti-Semitism dating back to 1349, when about 2,000 Jews were burnt to death in Strasbourg.