PARIS - France's prime minister told Jewish leaders on Wednesday he had not meant to stigmatize their community when he urged them to rethink ancient dietary laws, as he strove to defuse a fractious row about minorities in the run up to a presidential election.Prime Minister Francois Fillon caused an uproar on Tuesday when he said the Jewish and Muslim "ancestral traditions" of ritual slaughter were outdated and unjustified.It was the latest in a series of divisive comments by politicians about the religious practices of France's ethnic minorities, seen as a bid to attract right-wing voters ahead of a two-round election in April and May.French Grand Rabbi Gilles Bernheim and Paris Central Consistory President Joel Mergui said Fillon reassured them during a meeting in his office on Wednesday that he had not did not intend to abolish halal and kosher meat slaughter in France.
(photo credit: The Jerusalem Post)