A letter of an anti-Semitic and revisionist nature was sent to the Chief Rabbi of Lyon Richard Wertenschlag in mid-August, according to a complaint lodged in the courts Wednesday. “This written communication had Holocaust-denying and anti-Semitic undertones, accompanied by threats and photos was sent August 10 and arrived the following day at the Great Synagogue of Lyon,” the religious leader told the AFP and was confirmed by a media report in the French daily Le Progres.
“In light of the potentially serious and threatening prospects for the security of our community, I filed a complaint with the local authorities,” he added, continuing to say that the complaint had been passed on to the public prosecutor’s office in Paris, which in turn informed the anti-terror division and the Criminal Investigation Bureau of Lyon.
The letter, which was signed “the just network”, stated: “More and more often, we have the idea of apologising to the Jew for the so-called Shoah (Holocaust) and the evil Palestinians imposed on us. From now on we’ll punish a Jew (...) every time you come on the television to complain”.
Several photos were attached to the letter, which, according to its author, “prove that the Jews were well-treated in Germany, fed and housed in holiday accommodation for children”.
“You can take that as a sign of an uneducated person led astray, but it’s better to follow the worst case scenario and treat it as a warning to be heeded,” the Chief Rabbi emphasised.
If this threatening letter is the first of his career, he acknowledges having received “anti-Semitic, anti Zionist letters, those arrive quite frequently”.
“It relates to the climate we live in. You often seen expressions of a new form of anti-Semitism arising. It is distressing, I see a non-stop proliferation of anti-Semitic sentiment in this country,” he raged.

Edited by Shari Ryness

EJP