Today's Date:

(…)

France is pursuing a determined fight against anti-Semitism in our country and globally.

Since 2002 we have been doing everything possible to step up prevention and crack down on anti-Semitism.

First, we have taken strong measures for protection. Arrangements have been made to step up the surveillance of sensitive sites, such as places of worship and community centres. Mobile police units are specially deployed in departments with the highest incidence. 1,200 officers, plus local police and gendarmerie forces, are assigned exclusively to the security of Jewish community religious and cultural premises. Lastly, a programme to make sensitive buildings more secure has been included in the budget of the Interior Ministry.

We are also tackling impunity by strengthening legislation against racist, anti-Semitic and xenophobic acts. This legislation is being applied with the utmost rigour and firmness. Judges have been specially designated in each prosecution department to follow racist and anti-Semitic cases. In addition, prosecutors systematically appeal when sentences are considered too lenient.

We have obtained real results: in 2005 anti-Semitic acts fell by 47% compared with the previous year. The figures available today for 2006 confirm this downward trend. This is the result of everyone mobilizing.

But we must keep up our vigilance because we will win this battle only over time.

Vigilance with regard to these acts: we have set up an Interministerial Committee to fight Racism and Anti-Semitism. It meets several times a year, under my chairmanship, in particular to monitor developments in the situation based on information provided by the Interior Ministry and the Conseil représentatif des institutions juives de France (CRIF).

Vigilance with regard to speech, particularly in the media, and I know that this is a question you find especially troubling. Since December 2004, we have banned Al-Manar broadcasts on our territory. We have also stopped Al-Manar's broadcasts to Asia and South America which had been relayed by Globecast, a France Télécom subsidiary.

Increasing preventive measures also means being faithful to our duty of remembrance.

France is facing up to her past. You know President Chirac's commitment in this regard. He reaffirmed it last January at the inauguration of the Shoah Memorial in Paris and at the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

At a time when the generation that was witness to these tragic hours is passing away, we have a duty to do everything possible to hand down to young people the memory, the mourning, and the conscience forged through this terrible time. There is now an annual day devoted to remembrance of the Shoah in schools. School visits are organized to the places of remembrance. Finally, France, along with 17 other countries, is involved in the International Action Group for the Memory of the Shoah.

France is also pursuing the fight against anti-Semitism at international level.

In the European Union framework, first of all.

With our partners we have taken several initiatives. I'm thinking of the working group made up of representatives of the Commission, the European Jewish Congress and Conference of European Rabbis. I'm also thinking of the European Council's decision to step up the battle against anti-Semitism, racism and xenophobia.

We are also waging this battle against anti-Semitism in the OSCE framework.

France is particularly active here, in the fight against racist, anti-Semitic and xenophobic propaganda, with the Paris Conference in 2004, the creation of workshops to train professionals to enforce the law on hate crimes, and the setting-up of specialized non-governmental organization networks.

To wage this battle, we have to strengthen the Franco-Israeli relationship still further.

Since 2002, we have made considerable headway on the path of dialogue and friendship between our two peoples.

We have stepped up our political exchanges.

The visit in July 2005 of Ariel Sharon, to whom our thoughts go this evening, was especially important to all of us. Along with Ehud Olmert's visit to Paris in June this year, it signalled a new stage in our relationship. In the face of the challenges we have to take up together, we need an ever-stronger dialogue.

We have also stepped up our cooperation.

Thanks to the "high-level group", which, as Foreign Minister, I had established with Shimon Peres, the understanding between our two societies has deepened. With the France-Israel Foundation, we now want to go further and firmly cement this partnership. I would like the Israeli authorities resolutely to commit themselves alongside us to make this a vibrant institution.

Today, our companies, universities, voluntary organizations, artists and scientists have got to know each other better and learned to work together. We are seeing the emergence of joint economic, academic, scientific, artistic and cultural projects.

France is determined to place this friendship, this commitment, at the service of peace.

First of all, peace in the Middle East

July's tragic crisis was, for the Israelis, Lebanese and all those attached to the region, a terrible ordeal.

I'm thinking of the inhabitants of Haifa and northern Israel hit by Hezbollah rocket fire. I'm also thinking of the many Lebanese civilian victims

France fully mobilized to get the adoption of UNSCR 1701, which led to the cessation of the hostilities and set the parameters for a lasting political solution.

By taking command of the reinforced UNIFIL and deploying, to date, over 1,600 men on the ground, our country has shouldered all its responsibilities.

We are today committed in support of the implementation of this resolution which, in particular, presupposes not only the release of the two Israeli soldiers still being held, disarming of the militia and compliance with the arms embargo, but also the halting of Israeli over-flights which violate Lebanon's sovereignty.

We all know the current situation in the Middle East remains very vulnerable.

More than ever, for there to be stability and security, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must first be settled. With the European Union, France is fully mobilized in support of a fair and lasting solution.

Our objective remains that of two States living side by side in peace and security. Only peace underpinned by a political solution and negotiated settlement will be able permanently to ensure the security and future of Israel and the region's peoples.

President Chirac forcefully reaffirmed this conviction by proposing the holding of an international conference in the near future. To restore confidence, it is essential to release Corporal Shalit, kidnapped early in the summer, and halt all violence.

It is this same sense of responsibility and commitment which drives us to take up the challenge posed to regional security by the proliferation risks.

As I have said on several occasions, I share Israel's legitimate concerns in the face of the unacceptable statements made by the Iranian president, both his anti-Semitic statements and appeals for the destruction of Israel. Once again, I utterly condemn them.

Iran is pursuing a programme of fissile material enrichment which is arousing legitimate international concerns.

Our sole objective is to persuade Iran to comply with her international commitments: an Iran with a military nuclear capability is unacceptable. In close coordination with the other Europeans, the Americans, Russians and Chinese, we have presented Tehran with some ambitious proposals.

Confronted with the Iranian refusal to respond to this offer by suspending her enrichment activities, we have faced up to our responsibilities. A new United Nations Security Council resolution is under preparation. I am calling for the rapid adoption of this text which is to provide for progressive, targeted and reversible sanctions.

In this new phase, we shall have to maintain the international community's unity, since on it depends our action's legitimacy and thus its efficacy.

At a time when the region is running the risk of a new outbreak of violence, France stands resolutely at Israel's side. She will not compromise on Israel's security, which can be achieved only through the settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This is the whole thrust of France and Europe's commitment in the Middle East, alongside the region's peoples.

It is also the thrust of the universal values of justice and dialogue, the Republican principles of tolerance and respect for the Other, of which you are the distinguished defenders. It's also the thrust of the fight against anti-Semitism which for the government, for me and President Chirac is an absolute priority./.