CAIRO — Reaction has been varied to a letter published recently in a French newspaper calling for certain passages of the Quran to be removed. The manifesto claims that certain Quranic passages are anti-Semitic and call for the killing of Jews, Christians and atheists. The verses should be removed, it said, "so that no believer can rely on a sacred text to commit a crime." France "has become the theater of deadly anti-Semitism," the letter continued, and anti-Zionist movements have supplied an "alibi to transform the executioners of the Jews as victims of society."

Le Parisien reported April 21 that more than 250 French public figures — including politicians such as former President Nicolas Sarkozy, former Prime Minister Manuel Valls, actor Gerard Depardieu and a number of artists and intellectuals — signed the letter written by Philippe Val, the former editor of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. The letter preceded the April 25 launching of the book "New Antisemitism in France" from publisher Albin Michel.

Reaction in France to the letter was swift and turbulent: It was praised by some as breaking a perceived silence about violence against Jews in France, and condemned by others for blaming Islam for anti-Semitism.

In the Middle East, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is being lauded by some for his May 8 retaliation that he directed toward the letter's signatories: “We will not stoop to your level and attack your holy values while you are attacking ours, but we will undermine you. Who are you to attack our scriptures?”