FRANCE: France is determined to fight rising anti-Semitism but had found no single way to stamp out hate crimes against Jews, a visiting delegation from the American Jewish Congress (AJC) said.
Among France's latest efforts is a drive to tighten the judicial system that French Jewish leaders say has been too lax in punishing those accused of anti-Semitic attacks, the AJC's executive director, Mr David Harris, said.
He spoke after the delegation, led by the AJC president, Mr Robert Goodkind, met the Prime Minister, Mr Jean-Pierre Raffarin, and the Justice Minister, Mr Dominique Perben.
"Of all my visits here - at least a dozen since 2000 - this has been the most satisfying," Mr Harris said. "I felt we were talking with people who understood the magnitude of the problem and were determined to do something about it."
Jewish groups in France and abroad have criticised Paris for its slow reaction to the rise in anti-Semitic violence since 2000, but they have recently praised President Jacques Chirac's government for taking a tougher stand.
Mr Harris said Mr Perben had assured the delegation that France would tighten lax prosecution and sentencing in cases of anti-Semitic violence and soon bring in a law to ban satellite broadcasts by the Hamas guerrilla group's Al Manar television.
But there was "no sure-fire method for surgically removing hatred, racism and anti-Semitism," he added.