The thing about contemporary British and French relations: notwithstanding centuries of tension they've always been able to unite against common enemies. So in an era where many people are justifiably worried about how large blocs of unassimilated immigrants are eroding traditional Anglo-Saxon culture, it's nice to see that some old traditions are being kept vibrant. Radical French Muslims - a not insignificant portion of the total French population - have apparently joined their British counterparts in bombing synagogues...

Attackers launched two cars packed with petrol bombs at a synagogue in France's south-western city of Toulouse on Monday night, causing damage but no casualties, officials said.One car was set on fire and pushed by the other until it hit the door of the synagogue, at a time when about a dozen people were attending a class with a rabbi. The building caught fire but all those inside escaped unharmed. Police found unexploded petrol bombs inside the second car, which did not catch fire. They said they were investigating the attack and had not made any arrests... In recent years, flare-ups between Israel and the Palestinians have been followed by acts of violence against Jewish people or buildings in France, which has large Jewish and Muslim communities. Some analysts have attributed the problem to a build-up of resentment among children or grandchildren of immigrants from Arab countries who feel they are poorly integrated into French society and are victims of discrimination in the job market.

... and targeting prominent Jews for liquidation:

Jewish-French philosopher Bernard Henri-Levy was listed by a Belgium-based Islamist group as a target for assassination alongside other leading Jewish personalities in Europe, the Belgian daily La Derniere Heure reported earlier this week. The planned assassination was apparently thwarted after group leader Abdelkader Belliraj, a Belgian of Moroccan ascent, was arrested last February in Morocco, the newspaper reported. Belgian authorities found the list during a raid on homes of local Muslim community members last November, according to the report. The hit list mentioned the names of five other well-know Jewish figures in Belgium and France: Josy Eisenberg, producer of the A Bible ouverte (Open Bible) television program on FR2; Simone Susskind, a leader of Belgium's secular Jewish community; attorney Markus Pardes, president of the International Association of Jewish lawyers and jurists; Belgian writer Jean-Claude Bologne and La Derniere Heure reporter Edmond Blattche.

If only they were better integrated into French society. Because that's the thing about French anti-Semitism: people who are educated, influential, and respectable never become open anti-Semites. It's a socio-economic dynamic that has nothing to do with a cutural history of pathological scapegoating that, having been written off for decades as "anti-Zionism", has now metasticized into genocidal Islamic anti-Semitism. What a relief.

References:
* France arrests 7 suspected of Islamic radicalism [AP]
* British Muslims Doing Their Best To Cleanse Britain Of Jews [MR]
* Cars launched at synagogue [Straits Times]
* Bernard Henri Levy among 6 Jews said targeted by Islamist group [Ha'aretz]
* Antisemitic League of France [Wiki]
* The Dreyfus affair: 100 years on [BBC]

Previously:
* "Youths" Rioting, Burning Police Cars Again In Paris
* French Intifada Continues With 77 Police Officers Injured. Liberal Sophisticates Blame France, Exonerate Youths Of Inscrutable Ethnic Origin [Videos]
* French Police Raiding Housing Projects Filled With Immigrants Of Unknown Religion (Plus: At Least Radical Muslims Are Honest Anti-Semites)