The Jerusalem Post

In the 1980s, French secret service made a deal with Palestinia­n terrorists

- • By CNAAN LIPHSHIZ

France agreed not to target Palestinia­n terrorists who killed French Jews in Paris in 1982 if they refrained from carrying out further attacks on French soil, a former top spy has revealed.

Yves Bonnet, who headed the now-defunct DST service in the 1980s, made the assertion in January to a judge investigat­ing the 1982 attack in which six people were murdered and 22 injured at a kosher restaurant on Rosiers Street, Le

Thursday.

The suspects in the attack on the Jo Goldberg deli are wanted for questionin­g per a 2015 French arrest warrant. One of the suspects lives in Jordan, another near Ramallah Parisien reported in the West Bank and a third in Norway, according to the CRIF umbrella group of French Jewish communitie­s.

None of the relevant government­s have agreed to extradite the suspects, whom French investigat­ors believe belonged to the Abu Nidal terrorist group, which splintered in 1974 from Fatah.

“We entered a sort of verbal deal which tells them: I want no more attacks on French soil, but I will allow you to come to France and guarantee nothing will happen to you,” Bonnet said, according to Le Parisien.

French authoritie­s allowed two of the alleged perpetrato­rs to visit their brothers in arms in French prisons after the 1982 attack, in which the terrorists threw grenades into the packed restaurant. It was the bloodiest antisemiti­c attack in France since World War II.

“It worked: There were no further attacks from the end of 1983 throughout 1984 and until 1985,” Bonnet said. (JTA)

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