French Jews accuse North Africans

A Jewish leader in France has blamed recent attacks against Jewish buildings on Muslim militants from North Africa.

Henri Hajdenberg, who heads a group of Jewish organisations, said that, although there was no firm evidence, the Jewish community believed the attacks were the work of North Africans trying to set Muslims against Jews.

He said he did not think there was a wave of anti-semitism or that the extreme right was involved.

The French interior minister, Daniel Vaillant, said he thought the attacks were acts of vandalism -- not part of an orchestrated campaign. There have been around ninety attacks on Jewish targets in France since the recent outbreak of violence between Israelis and Arabs in the Middle East.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service