March 29, 2013

PARIS (JTA) — The chief rabbi of France has received a letter from an obscure organization warning of “brutal actions” against French Jewish journalists. 

“Before we take brutal measures, the only ones at our disposal, we approach you because those corrupt journalists are Jewish,” read the letter recently sent to Rabbi Gilles Bernheim in Paris. It was signed by a hitherto unknown organization called IFO, a French acronym for Interaction of Forces of Order, the Metro daily reported on Thursday.

The letter said the journalists were acting as Communist agents and attempting to “curb liberty in France.” 

Those behind IFO also sent a death threat this week to Jean-Michel Gentil, the judge who ordered a criminal investigation of the actions of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Sarkozy is accused of illicitly obtaining funds from the billionaire Liliane Bettencourt.

Separately, unidentified individuals carved five swastikas on Tuesday onto the wooden doors of a synagogue in Haguenau, in eastern France. A representative of the city’s Jewish community reported the incident to police.

ADVERTISEMENT: Visit OneHappyCamper.org to find a Jewish camp and see if your child qualifies for a $1,000 grant.

Click to write a letter to the editor.

This article was made possible by the support of readers like you. Donate to JTA now.