Today's Date:

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The situation in the Middle East has continued to deteriorate lately, producing its daily toll of innocent victims on both sides. Each time France has expressed in forceful and resolute terms its horror and indignation at the rising number of anti-Israeli attacks. Our compassion for the Israeli people, who pay such a heavy tribute to terrorism, is absolute. We share the pain, we understand the anger.

Ladies and gentlemen, only a political settlement will end this conflict that has been going on for more than 50 years. The UN Security Council stated this unanimously in resolution 1397: the solution is based on the co-existence of two states, Israeli and Palestinian, living side by side in peace and security. But one thing is certain: it is urgent to break the impasse--the status quo is proving, more so with each passing day, too painful for these two peoples.

The tragic suffering in which Israel is caught is painful for us. In this trial I want you to know that France stands by the deep friendship it has had for Israel since it was founded. It is in the name of this friendship that we wish to develop and deepen our bilateral relations. Accordingly, our two governments have set up a high-level group to propose areas for strengthening the already very close cooperation between our two countries. It is chaired on the French side by Professor David Khayat, whom I welcome, who has already presented a very promising interim report. This group will present projects that will be a sign of the quality of our bilateral relations.

As I said at the 60th anniversary commemoration of the appalling round-up at the Vel d’Hiver, and repeat today with conviction: “To attack the Jewish community is to attack France, the Republic and its values.”

You know how determined the government is in the face of these difficulties. But I will refrain from sounding any note of triumph. The results are fragile, vigilance is required and the international context can rekindle the fires of hate we thought were extinguished.

Prevention is called for. That is why the precautionary measures introduced last spring to prevent anti-Semitic and anti-Jewish acts are being maintained.

Thirteen units of mobile forces (1200 mobile CRS and gendarmes) have been deployed on the ground to protect the most sensitive areas, which were decided on in consultation with representatives of the Jewish community in France.

Instructions have been given to public prosecutors to exercise the utmost vigilance in acts of a racist or anti-Semitic character and to react with the utmost firmness. Consequently, I have observed that whenever the perpetrators anti-Semitic acts have been identified, the sentences handed down have been particularly severe. I welcome this.

France has also worked to strengthen measures against anti-Semitic acts at the European Union for regrettably anti-Semitic acts have also increased in Belgium, the Netherlands, Britain and Germany. We must work together to fight more effectively against anti-Semitism.

Lastly, a bill providing for stiffer penalties for racist, anti-Semitic acts was submitted by Paris Deputy Pierre Lellouche, whom I salute this evening, and passed unanimously with full government support. It will give judges the means to punish these intolerable acts more effectively.

Besides anti-Semitic violence, we see the expression of anti-Semitism changing forms in France, and this is disturbing. I have been greatly concerned to note, for example, that some people are calling for a boycott of Israeli products.

I must add that they are liable to be brought before the correctional courts. The penal code sets severe penalties of imprisonment for any act of discrimination based on real or alleged affiliation with a given nation or religion. I know that the justice minister is giving personal attention to this matter. Special instructions have been given to the prosecutor’s offices concerned, on the basis of elements communicated to the Ministry of Justice.

France continues to defend its point of view and analysis of the situation in Palestine: There will be no peace without justice and respect for the rights of Palestinians. But this reality cannot justify confusing issues. France has always condemned terrorism regardless of where it comes from, especially suicide attacks against civilians.

We all know that anti-Semitism has invaded the new communication technologies. The owners of these sites are well able to exploit the gaps in national laws which make it difficult to take action against them. We cannot abandon ourselves to a sense of powerlessness. So the French judicial authorities began proceedings against an American server for allowing the advertising of Nazi objects for sale, and the director was summoned to appear before a French court.

Action at the international level is essential, and we are studying the possibility of proposing an international response to such problems on the Internet.

Anti-Semitism is at times spread even in our classrooms. There we are experiencing the failure to integrate with our republican values, a fundamental mission for schools. In some educational establishments, it is becoming difficult for teachers to raise the subject of the Shoah or to utter the name of Israel.

I share the conviction of Alain Finkielkraut that a civilization that forgets its past is condemned to relive it. We must teach the holocaust.

The Ministry of National Education is mobilizing the resources to find solutions quickly which will be based on the absolute firmness of principles and organizing their application on the ground: The priority objective is to assist schools and teachers to do a better job in dealing with these unacceptable phenomena.

In higher education, disturbing phenomena have been seen, particularly the call by one university in Paris to stop the renewal of academic cooperation between the European Union and Israel, and for a moratorium on exchanges with Israeli universities. It is not an attack on the university’s autonomy to say that this initiative, which exceeded its authority, is inadmissible. And the government has forcefully condemned it.

In no way does it correspond to the government’s direction. On the contrary we wish to develop bilateral relations with Israel and cooperation with foreign universities. To that end an agreement was signed January 14 for a new scientific and technological framework for cooperation between the Ministry for Research and a high-level Israeli scientific delegation. Lastly, we will see to it that the funds France and the EU give to the Middle East countries are employed precisely for peace and development.

As for the Paris University call, I am pleased to note that the mobilization of intellectuals and the public’s general indignation constituted a salutary reaction.

Our contemporary societies face profound questions affecting the main religions and politics. One can seek to interpret this challenge. Secularization, fear of the future, materialism, growing individualism—there is a long list of causes to explain the ideological crisis we are living through.

Religion and politics find themselves together facing a common difficulty whereas the boundaries between them are less clear. At times religious questions become political problems; wearing a scarf at school, the excesses of certain sectarian movements, Islamic terrorism, anti-Semitism are all part of it.

Societies need direction. The religious must give direction, politics must give direction but of course they are on different planes. The direction given by the Republic lies in its values-- liberty, equality and fraternity. It also lies in its secular nature, which is a cardinal value allowing everyone to express his convictions in freedom, security and tolerance.

Secularity is our common framework, it permits France to be a land of tolerance, not just a juxtaposition of communities. Alongside these values which must be defended, politics finds its capacity to give direction when it assumes dignity, that is coherence between thought and action. My government formulates its action in this spirit./.