To the Editor: 

France's minister of national education, Luc Ferry, blames tensions between Jews and Muslims for recent anti-Semitic attacks in France ("Here's News for Cowboys: Bandanna Can be Religious" Jan. 21).

The ongoing pattern of violent assaults against Jews in France tells a different story.  In the past week, the Jewish community in France has faced three vicious attacks – the firebombing of a school bus and the stoning of a synagogue, both in Strasbourg, and the violent assault of a Jewish youth at a skating rink near Paris by a group of Muslims shouting anti-Semitic slogans.  Four youths of North African origin were arrested in the skating rink incident.

While it is encouraging that the French government is taking important steps to address the problem of rising anti-Semitism, one of the most pressing questions that needs to be asked is why these and other unprovoked attacks against identifiably Jewish individuals and institutions continue to be a blight on France's religiously pluralistic society.