PARIS (JTA) — French police opened an investigation Thursday after a Jewish student was attacked by masked men who engraved a Star of David in her arm.

Police said three men attacked the 20-year-old law student, "probably with a set of keys," outside her home in the southern city of Aix-en-Provence.

Earlier that evening, the woman had participated in a debate at a local cinema following the screening of a film dealing with media coverage of the Middle East conflict. She had expressed her indignation at the involvement of Palestinian children in the conflict.

Holocaust claims deadline extended

BERLIN (JTA) — The deadline for filing claims to receive money from Holocaust-era insurance policies has been extended to Sept. 30.

The International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims said the six-month deadline extension would allow time to publish more names of people whose insurance policies were not fulfilled.

The insurance program was part of an agreement signed last October by the commission and a German foundation.

Anti-Semitic German quits political party

BERLIN (JTA) — A German politician accused of making anti-Semitic statements quit his political party.

Jurgen Mollemann said Monday he would leave the Free Democrats after party leaders tried for months to expel him. Mollemann was the Free Democrats' deputy leader until last fall, when he quit after being blamed for the party's poor showing in September's elections.

Days before the elections, Mollemann issued a flier criticizing Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Michel Friedman, a prominent talk show host and vice president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, in language that many people found anti-Semitic.