Gaza drives a wedge in Paris imam's dialogue with Jews

One Jewish leader in Drancy, Jacques Aboucaya, worries Gaza could spark deeper tensions. "I fear outbursts in the suburbs ... an increase of anti-Semitism in France. To see Israeli flags burning in protests makes a strong impression on the minds of youth."

Since Dec. 27 some 60 cases of anti-Semitism – graffiti, four synagogues desecrated, and an attack on a Jewish youth – took place, according to Richard Prasquier of the Council of French Jewish Institutions in France (CRIF). Two Muslim youth were attacked by Jewish gangs.

"The emotions of the Middle East are in our streets," said Jean-David Levitte, the top diplomatic adviser to the French president last week.

Gaza sparked a venting of Arab and black grievances of every kind in France – anger at few jobs in the Arab ghettos outside Paris, lack of assimilation, being outmaneuvered by Jewish voices in the media. In October a mostly Arab crowd booed the French national anthem at the national stadium in Paris during a French-Tunisian match.

"Solidarity with Palestinians has at its roots a feeling of disenfranchisement in France," says Ms. Benbassa. "Migrants from North Africa are astounded to find that when something happens to Jews it is treated with great importance in the media, but when something happens to Arabs or blacks, it is not."

As Arabs condemned Israel, the Jewish community supported Israel's stated war on Hamas. CRIFstated that "95 percent of French Jews" supported military action as a response to continued Hamas rockets; the war was also supported by Gilles Bernheim, chief Rabbi in France.

'Reconciliation will take time'

For Chalghoumi, educated in Syria, India, and Pakistan, where he adopted a blend of Sufi and Tablighi Islam, which stresses self-purification and dialogue – the Gaza war has damaged and temporarily ended four years of patient efforts at religious exchange. The total backing by French Jewish officials of Gaza undercut him. He received death threats from Muslim extremists after a Paris newspaper quoted him saying he was against protests; he says he simply opposed violent protests. He now lives under police protection, though he still conducts Friday prayers.

Chalghoumi is not a typical imam. But his description of Gaza's effect on the mentality in his mosque is typical: "The bombing brought an overwhelming feeling of injustice." He quickly narrates: On Day 1 the mosque prayed for victims on both sides of the conflict. On Day 2 there was solidarity with Palestinians; moderate Muslims were angry with Hamas. But by Day 5, as "Israel kept attacking and attacking, with images of children killed," his believers "felt devastated.... There was silence by the international community ... French Jews fully supported Israel, and then it seemed biblical. By Day 7 the Muslims were all hating the Jews."

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