Call For Ban Of Jewish Skull Cap In France

A cry of outrage throughout France followed after far right politician, Marine Le Pen called to ban the wearing of Jewish skull caps in public.

Le Pen is the leader of the Front National in France. Despite the success of the socialist party during France’s last election with the nomination of President Francois Hollande, Le Pen won a fifth of the national vote based strongly on her anti-Muslim immigration plan.

During the Sarkozy administration, a ban was placed on the public wearing of the Islamic veil. Now Le Pen is calling to also remove the Jewish kippah from the public eye.

Daily Mailreported that the most senior rabbi in France called Le Pen’s comments and views as “deeply deplorable.”

In addition to Muslim and Jewish head wear, Le Pen told Le Monde no religious head wear should be worn in public:

‘It’s obvious that if the veil is banned, the kippah should be banned in public as well…the situation in our country has changed. We used to have a fragile balance between religions, but massive immigration has changed that…veils and jilbabs are putting us under pressure. France is a victim of sectarian political groups due to the ruling parties’ incapacity to deal with the problem.”

According to Le Pen, these items would be banned in the “name of equality.”

The calls for these bans comes at a very fragile time in France, one week after cartoons were released, showing the Prophet Mohammed being pushed in a wheelchair by an Orthodox Rabbi.

President Francois Hollande attacked Le Pen’s comments:

“Everything that tears people apart, opposes them and divides them is inappropriate.’We must apply the rules, the only rules that we know – the rules of the Republic and secularism.”