(JTA) A prominent watchdog group on anti-Semitism in France filed a police complaint against a leading Muslim community leader for alleged incitement to hatred of Jews.
The National Bureau for Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism, or BNVCA, filed the complaint Thursday against Dalil Boubakeur, rector of the Great Mosque of Paris and the president of the French Council of the Muslim Faith, BNVCA said in a statement.
The unusual move against Boubakeur, a highly respected representative of French Muslims, follows his defense Monday of an imam from Toulouse who was filmed speaking during a sermon about Israel’s demise and a war in which Muslims would kill Jews.
The imam, Mohammed Tatai, “protests firmly and in good faith” the controversy that last month grew around the video of his sermon from December, Boubakeur wrote in a statement Monday. Tatai also “apologizes to anyone who was accidentally offended by the pulling out of context” of the sermon, Boubakeur added.
