No time to rest

More anti-Semitism.

Paris police say arsonists destroyed a Jewish community center in a pre-dawn attack today, and scrawled graffiti and swastikas inside the building.

Flames tore through the center, which had been used as a meeting place and cafeteria for the elderly and disadvantaged.

One message in red marker said, "Without the Jews, the world is happy." Another said, "Jews get out."

The incident is the latest in a long wave of anti-Semitic violence in France, and prompted a number of high-ranking officials to visit the site.

French President Jacques Chirac says the perpetrators will be found "so that they can be tried and convicted with the greatest severity."

UPDATE: Unknown islamic group claims responsibility online.

"A group of young mujahedeen (fighters) ... have torched the Jewish temple in Paris at 04:00 Paris time," said the Arabic statement posted in the name of the Jamaat Ansar Al-Jihad al-Islamiya.

The claim could not be independently verified.

The group said the attack was "in response to racist acts by Jews in France against Islam and the Muslims and the desecration of Muslim cemeteries by Jews."

"It is also meant ... as a simple response to the racist and savage acts by Jews in Muslim countries like Palestine and other Muslim and Arab countries," it said.

It said such "acts are carried out by the descendents of monkeys and pigs, with the help of the French government which stands idle before the Jews at the expense of the Muslims in France."