Gavin Mortimer Gavin Mortimer

France has become a religious battleground

The new year has not started well for France. On the last day of 2015 – the most traumatic year for the French in decades because of the twin attacks in Paris – president Francois Hollande warned the nation in his traditional New Year’s Eve address: ‘France is not done with terrorism… these tragic events will remain for ever etched in our memories, they shall never disappear. But despite the tragedy, France has not given in. Despite the tears, the country has remained upright.’

Hollande’s warning was borne out within 24 hours. On the first day of 2016 a lone motorist – inspired by Islamic State – drove at a group of soldiers guarding a Mosque in Valence. There were no fatalities, though the driver was shot and wounded, but six days later another Isis supporter was shot dead as he charged a police station in the north of Paris brandishing a knife and wearing what turned out to be a fake suicide vest.

Then in Marseille on Monday a 15-year-old Turkish-Kurd boy wounded a Jewish teacher in a machete attack in broad daylight, boasting to the police that he had acted in the name of Isis. It was the third such attack in three months in the Mediterranean city and the teacher spoke later of the ‘hate in the eyes’ of his assailant as he rained down blows. On Tuesday Jews were advised by Zvi Ammar, head of Marseille’s Israelite Consistory, to ‘remove the kippah during this troubled time until better days…as soon as we are identified as Jewish we can be assaulted and even risk death.’

The reaction to the trio of attacks has followed a now familiar pattern. Politicians visit the scene, praise the security forces and call on people to remain vigilant, and united.

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