More anti-Semitism, violence in France

paris (jta/jps) | A Jewish man was attacked in his car in the Parisian suburbs last week.

The Sunday, March 19 attack was carried out by three men of African and North African origin, according to the Office of Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism. The three forced the man to stop his car and forcibly removed him from the vehicle, allegedly calling him a Jew in Arabic. The man was thrown to the ground and beaten.

This comes on the heels of a report submitted to the French government that claims about 30 percent of French people consider themselves at least somewhat racist. The figure is up from 25 percent a year ago, according to the annual poll on France’s attitudes toward racism commissioned by the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights.

london (jps) | London Mayor Ken Livingstone — currently fighting a four-week suspension from office — is in hot water again for criticizing two Jewish developers.

The mayor blamed developers David and Simon Reuben — who are involved in building a major facility for the 2012 Olympics — for having created a “poisonous state of relations.”

Livingstone said if the Reubens were “not happy here perhaps they could go back to Iran and try it under the ayatollahs.”

The Reuben brothers were born in Bombay, India, to Iraqi Jewish parents and have been British residents for the past 40 years.

Livingstone’s suspension for comparing a newspaper reporter to a Nazi camp guard is currently under review before the High Court.

edinburgh (jps) | The Church of Scotland is set to consider divestment and support for a boycott of Israeli goods produced in the West Bank during its General Assembly meeting in May, to “show solidarity with the Palestinian people.”

These moves are expected to be recommended to the assembly by the committee of the Church and Society Council, one of the church’s most influential bodies. The council is to present its report, “Investment in Palestine and Israel.”

This follows the Church of England’s decision last month to divest from companies such as Caterpillar, whose products Israel uses in the territories.