Effects of the fire

By Hadi Yahmid, IOL correspondent

PARIS, August 24 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The announcement of an allegedly Islamic group claiming responsibility for the arson attack on a Jewish community center in Paris is very much likely a “plot” and does in no way tarnish the image of the Islamic organizations in France .

“The plot is orchestrated to turn the French public opinion against the [sizable] French community,” sources with the French Council of the Muslim Faith told IslamOnline.net Tuesday, August 24.

The sources, speaking only on condition of anonymity, said all French Muslim organizations and groups are well-known for their respect of the principles and values of the French republic and rejection of extremism irrespective of its identity.

On Sunday, August 22, arsonists attacked Jewish center in eastern Paris , painting swastikas and anti-Jewish slogans on the walls of the building. No one was killed or injured in the attack.

Council Chairman Dalil Boubakeur has denounced in the strongest possible terms the attack, voicing heartfelt solidarity with the Jewish community in France .

An unknown Islamic group claimed Monday, August 23, responsibility for the arson attack on the Jewish soup kitchen on a website.

The French police said Monday experts were examining the statement, noting that it was too early to jump to conclusions.

‘Ill-Intentioned’

The sources said fingers are often pointed at Muslims when a sabotage or terrorist attack takes place in France , let alone in the entire world.

“Accusations leveled at Muslims every now and then are nothing new and ill-intentioned. It is a waste of time to argue about,” the sources told IOL.

“But If it is proven that such an attack was carried out by Muslims, we then strongly condemn them and consider them a handful of rouge people, who have nothing to do with the teachings of Islam, which call for mercy and tolerance,” the sources said.

A French woman, who claimed she was the subject of an “anti-Semitic” attack by six youths of North African appearance on a train in the suburbs of Paris , was taken into police custody July 13 after admitting to having invented the assault story.

Several mosques in France have also come under a string of racist attacks and arsons.

Mosques and Muslim graves in two cemeteries have been defaced with swastikas and Neo-Nazi slogans in June, while gunshots were fired at a mosque in northern France .

Last March, two mosques were hit by arson attacks in the two cities of Seynod and Annecy .

French Jews rebuffed on July 19 Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s call to leave and move to Israel “immediately” in protest at what he called “soaring anti-Semitism”.