PARIS, Jan 4: A Rabbi who is one of the leading advocates of closer ties between Islam and Judaism was stabbed last night in the Rue Petion synagogue in the eleventh arrondissement of Paris as he prepared to celebrate the Sabbath.

Rabbi Gabriel Farhi, of the Mouvement Juif Liberal de France (MJLF), a movement which, like Rabbi Farhi, has advocated better relations between French Muslims and Jews, was stabbed in the abdomen by a masked man, and was immediately taken to hospital where authorities say he is out of danger.

During a telephone interview, Rabbi Farhi said that had received a written threat the day before, a few hours before the attack, telling him that an anonymous group “would have his skin” and was “launching against him the Jihad out of vengeance for the spilt blood of our Palestinian brothers.”

French police said they had no leads for the moment, and refused to attribute the act or the letter to an existing group, Islamic or Jewish, except to say that the whole matter was “obviously the doing of extremists.”

As for Rabbi Farhi, he said that the attack “has reinforced my conviction that Jews and Muslims have to work more closely than ever,” and said that he would “now redouble my efforts to bring about peace between the two religions.”