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Policeman face residents in Paris following the brutal assault on a skullcap-wearing French Jewish teenager in June 2008. (AP) Racial tensions rise to surface in mixed Jewish-Muslim district in Paris By Brett Kline Tags: Muslims, Anti-Semitism  PARIS - The favorite expression among teenagers in this corner of the 19th district in northeastern Paris is "c'est pas normal" (it's not normal), but what that means exactly depends on who is talking. Emelie, a pretty 15-year-old and one of thousands of Sephardic youngsters in this heavily North African Jewish and Muslim, and also black African Muslim, district, says it is not normal that she gets harassed and insulted in the metro and the street by Arab and black teenagers. "It always ends with 'sale juive' and I am afraid all the time of getting hit," she says. "C'est pas normal. And it's not normal that Rudi got beaten up so badly here on the rue Petit because he was wearing a kippa." Advertisement Emelie looks around at the hundreds of Jewish kids hanging out on the corner across from the Chabad House where Rudi studies and adds, "For us, it is so obvious that he was attacked because he is Jewish." Indeed, the French state prosecutor has announced charges of attempted murder aggravated by anti-Semitism in the beating of Rudi Haddad on the rue Petit during a music festival last Saturday. The attack took place at around 8 P.M., apparently as Haddad was on his way to synagogue. He was not carrying keys or identifying documents, and his identity was only discovered about six hours later. The only problem is that so far the police have no suspects. The five kids originally held in connection with the attack have been released. The word on the street is that the police simply pulled in the first five black teenagers they came across. "There would have been a riot if they had been charged," says Sonia, who is standing with a few acquaintances on the street, not far from Emelie and her friends. Sonia is of Algerian origin. She lives here and works in a clothing store on the rue Petit. She swears she saw Rudi with a gang of Jewish guys brawling with a gang of black guys. She says his friends abandoned him and the black kids attacked him with metal bars. "What they did to him is horrible, for sure," she says. "Really it is. But, c'est pas normal, every time there is violence the Jews scream anti-Semitism. I think they are exaggerating, but the press loves it. C'est pas normal." Sonia and the light-skinned, muscular young black man with a ponytail chatting with her sound coherent and intelligent. He turns to us after giving a statement on the events to France 3 television and RFI radio. They are among many journalists and media outlets researching the story. "The cops rounded up those kids because they know very little about the young Africans here in the neighborhood, and they probably assume that all blacks are troublemakers," he says, "and that makes me mad. But I understand that the Jewish kids are angry also," he adds, pointing to the crowd down the street. "One of their brothers almost got killed. I work with Jewish guys, and I know how tight they are. But, c'est pas normal to label this anti-Semitic." Then he veers off on a tangent that does not make any sense. He says it was the Jewish kids, including Rudi, who brought the metal bars, in order to use them against the Africans and that the Africans took the bars away from them and used them to beat up Rudi. And he insists that Rudi is 15, not 17 as reported. "The African and Maghrebi kids have been fighting with the Jewish kids for weeks now, in the park especially," he says. "And the police have done very little. Maybe they will wake up now." As he walked away from yet another television crew caught up to him. The man obviously looks good in front of a camera, but he mixes the ridiculous with the factual. There have been clashes in recent weeks, and at other times in the past too, in the Butte Chaumont park that borders the neighborhood. And there are Jewish toughs who fight, for both good and bad reasons. But no one else has suggested that the Jewish kids brought the metal bars in the latest incident, and Rudi is 17, not 15. The President of the Representative Council of French Jewry (CRIF), Richard Prasquier, told a local Jewish radio station that the police know everything that is going on but have not made any arrests. He said that while the number of anti-Semitic incidents in France has dropped in 2008, the depth of anti-Semitism in certain areas and among certain people has increased. "It is normal to be anti-Semitic in some neighborhoods," he said. "Jewish kids are insulted and hit all the time, and people say, 'c'est normal.' I say, 'c'est pas normal.'" Prasquier also told listeners that Haddad, who is still in hospital, recognizes family members but still does not remember the details of the attack. Most French people are not convinced that this was an anti-Semitic attack. "For me, this is just violence, so why should it be anti-Semitic," asks Justine Roubaud, a student in a prestigious political science program. "This is no different from a homeless guy being attacked. It is awful, that's all." Robaud is using the extremely annoying French system of inductive logic, whereby a general truth is established in order to deny the specifics of individual cases. For example, French law is color-blind, stating that all citizens are equal under the law, so there is no official recognition of different ethnic groups or the problems they face because of their differences, or any solutions that might apply to them such as affirmative action. Using the same logic, many French people did not believe that the torture-killing of Ilan Halimi in February 2006 was motivated by anti-Semitism either. Roubaud adds, "there is such a stir in the press every time a Jewish kid is attacked that some people are saying that this is proof that Jews control the press. I don't believe that, but it is not normal to let gang violence go unchecked." According to one Agence France-Presse report, there were three incidents that day. A Jewish kid was attacked by a gang of black kids, and two hours later two other Jewish kids were attacked and one hit with a machete. Then came the final incident, the fighting between Jewish and African groups, during which Haddad was beaten. It did not specify the latter's role in the incident. "Very quickly, this was labeled anti-Semitic, but maybe it was a settling of accounts," wonders Celine Chalono, a journalist from Martinique. "In fact, it could be both. But it is this same logic here that makes me mad in this case. The reports all say black, without specifying that these kids are all African and Muslim, poor and very poorly integrated, whereas many blacks in France are Catholic and from the French Antilles, and we are integrated." Back on the rue Petit, Emelie is chatting with friends among the large group of Jewish kids gathered on the corner. Some are angry and shifting motorcycle helmets in their hands and smoking, others are laughing and pulling back long black hair. It is a "shal" crowd (short for sha-la-la, or JAP-Jewish American princess, French-Sephardi style). These are kids from modest families who on their scooters sometimes act as if they have a lot of money, leading many others in France to believe that with the Jews, even when they are poor they are rich. When asked, they all want one thing: to move to Israel. Emelie says she would go tomorrow. She has never been there because her parents don't have the money to send her, and the organizations don't take youths under the age of 18. "We talk about this every day," Emelie says. Many kids here go all the time. I hope my time will come. I dream of being able to walk down the street without being called a dirty Jew. C'est pas normal." Do the police know that this Saturday may be violent, that Jewish kids have received threats? Do they know that SMSs are circulating among Jewish kids telling them not to go outdoors on Saturday and in particular to avoid the Buttes Chaumont park? Hard to say. The police in the 19th District did not respond to an e-mail that they themselves had requested, concerning questions from the press. This is France, c'est normal. More Jewish World news and features Bookmark to del.icio.us   Wimbledon shocker Shahar Peer knocks out 9th-seed Safina to slide into the fourth round. Time to hit Iran Israel must destroy Iran's nuclear program within one year or risk being attacked.   1.   Anti-Semitism. 08:16  |  Jean Van Daem 27/06/08   2.   Paris n`est plus ce qu`elle etait 08:17  |  Philippe 27/06/08   3.   Where is birthright? 08:23  |  sweis Melbourne 27/06/08   4.   The real enemy is poverty & the French racism that caused it 08:28  |  Adam 27/06/08   5.   spotty history 08:57  |  martin 27/06/08   6.   Accurate sociologic portrait, real infos 09:27  |  French 27/06/08   7.   Jean Van DAMN! Blame Everything on Islam!!! 11:22  |  Samy 27/06/08   8.   I came here in a youth program at age of 17. Why 18? 11:22  |  Alain 27/06/08   9.   BS 12:48  |  john 27/06/08   10.   When Will All of the Semites.... 13:21  |  Martin 27/06/08   11.   She swears she saw Rudi with a gang of Jewish guys brawling with 14:18  |  Aounist 27/06/08   12.   he said she said 16:33  |  VIPER 27/06/08   13.   #1, jean van dumb 16:36  |  VIPER 27/06/08   14.   true 17:29  |  tom 27/06/08   15.   #7 Samy....those kids live in FRANCE 17:30  |  Lynn 27/06/08   16.   Time to get organised 18:35  |  Danite 27/06/08   17.   samy - Do youknow why Turkey took Sephardim? 18:38  |  david Israel 27/06/08   18.   terrible situation, but still less racist and violent than Israel 19:11  |  anti-racist 27/06/08   19.   to the self claimed "anti-racist" 19:40  |  JP 27/06/08   20.   Antisemitsm/Antizionism is the worst kind of racism 19:42  |  JP 27/06/08   21.   anti-racist AKA anti-factist 19:44  |  ZISD 27/06/08   22.   Aounist, it is always someone else, isn`t it? 19:59  |  Tulip 27/06/08   23.   Time to get organized, Danite? Time to come home! 20:00  |  Tulip 27/06/08   24.   re martin 20:32  |  billy jack 27/06/08   25.   "Anti-racist" and other racists have something in common 20:35  |  Moises 27/06/08   26.   Sammy #7 20:40  |  anonymous 27/06/08   27.   I agree with Danite - they should form Jewish Defence Force 22:16  |  Jewboy 27/06/08   28.   to ANONYMOUS #26 and Lyn #15: LAME RESPONSES! 22:42  |  Samy 27/06/08   29.   French Jews... 22:55  |  Edithann 27/06/08   30.   racial tensions 23:04  |  azad 27/06/08   31.   Tulip 23:43  |  Danite 27/06/08   32.   Samy these children live in France, not in Israel 23:44  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 27/06/08   33.   If people read these talkbacks 00:43  |  Conversations 28/06/08   34.   French Jews are French. Cette la vie. 00:49  |  Stephen. 28/06/08   35.   SAmy WHY NOT 01:01  |  TOBIA 28/06/08   36.   C`est normal 01:01  |  K 28/06/08   37.   Alleged anti-racist but still antisemite # 18 02:18  |  Philippe 28/06/08   38.   Anti-Jewish/anti-Zionists/anti-Semites are all the same-kol ehud 03:55  |  Michael J 28/06/08   39.   if i were a jew in france 04:43  |  ron 28/06/08   40.   Social Intergration 06:20  |  Jane 28/06/08   41.   Jane of Orlando Florida @#40 07:45  |  Absolute Israel 28/06/08   42.   Move out of there 08:44  |  S Freedman 28/06/08   43.   Tobia 08:46  |  Conversations 28/06/08   44.   Why would anyone want to live with them,or next to them 08:51  |  S Freedman 28/06/08   45.   #34, Stephen 10:24  |  Cipora Julianna Koh 28/06/08   46.   #31, Danite 10:27  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 28/06/08   47.   #36, K 10:31  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 28/06/08   48.   #27, JEWBOY, like the irgun gang? 11:30  |  VIPER 28/06/08

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