French Jews feel 'pandemic of anti-Semitism': archbishop

[oberliner]

TEL AVIV (AFP) - The archbishop of Paris and head of the Roman Catholic Church in France, Andre Vingt-Trois, said that French Jews feel they are enduring a "pandemic of anti-Semitism" on his first visit to Israel.

"The Jewish community feel they are living through a pandemic of anti-Semitism," he told AFP, clarifying comments made earlier at a news conference in Tel Aviv with Israeli Tourism Minister Isaac Herzog.

"It is a feeling felt by the Jewish community," he added.

Asked about he considered the state of anti-Semitism in France, the archbishop emphasised that "there are certainly points which need attention but France should not be turned into a battlefield."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070212/wl_mideast_afp/mideastfrancereligion_070212201628