The Montefiore site has over the years become the subject of considerable controversy. Sir Moses endowed the trustees of his will with a large capital sum to ensure that ten houses next to the shul would be occupied rent free by a minyan of talmidei chachamim, Torah scholars, who would spend their time immersed in study.

But during the 1960's, parcels of land were sold off to developers. Some of the land is now occupied by a large medical center.

Recently, property magnate and prominent member of the Satmar community Samuel Berger announced his intention to rebuild the original kollel in keeping with the terms of Sir Moses's will. The leaflet circulating in Ramsgate describes the reconstruction of the college in the image of what it called "a Charedi sect."

"Sir Moses Montefiore had little tolerance for Charedim," the author of the flier claims. "He regarded them as aloof and arrogant and criticized them for isolating themselves from the wider society. He would not approve of a Charedi college in his name."

The leaflet continues, "Within a few years the Medical Centre will be in the middle of an ultra- Orthodox Jewish ghetto where no English is spoken, cars are not welcome on Saturday and 'immodestly dressed visitors' are subject to personal, probably violent, abuse."

While in some quarters the relocation of some chassidic families from overcrowded Stamford Hill to the peaceful Kent countryside might be the answer to a prayer, others clearly don't see it that way.

Gillian Harris of the Montefiore Action Project, which aims to preserve what remains of the Montefiore land, said she deplores the anonymous leaflet, which she said was far from typical of local feeling toward Jewish people.

Police have not located the source of the leaflet but are continuing their investigations.

The far-right British National Party is set to pose an unprecedented challenge to mainstream political parties in next month's local council elections. The BNP has more than doubled its number of candidates, to 821 from 350 last year. Party leaders are particularly keen to whip up support in poor areas that would normally vote Labour. Jon Cruddas, member of Parliament for Dagenham, East London, where the BNP won 11 council seats last year, said: "The BNP is attempting to capitalize on peoples' feelings of insecurity. We have less than a month to convince people that the BNP represent a very real threat to communities and they should not be considered as a viable alternative to the mainstream parties or even to register a protest vote."

Henry Grunwald, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, also warned of the dangers of support for the BNP: "Any gains in the party's popularity damage society as a whole by stirring up communities and undermining the values of tolerance that have allowed the Jewish community and other minorities to flourish in Britain."

Holocaust denial, racist policies and links with neo-Nazi groups, a philosophy of apartheid and claims about a Jewish conspiracy are all hallmarks of the BNP, which tries to hide its true beliefs under a cloak of respectability.

Long standing anti-fascist campaigner Gerry Gable intends to counteract the BNP's popularity with his campaign titled "Hope, Not Hate," using a "battle bus" to tour districts where BNP candidates are due to stand. The anti-fascist organizationSearchlight, which is holding discussions with political parties, trade unions, community organizations and local anti-fascist groups throughout the country, has just concluded an Anti-Fascist Fortnight in a show of community opposition to the BNP.

Thousands of leaflets and newspapers spelling out the potential dangers if the party were to rise to power were delivered in every locality where the BNP poses a serious risk.

Israeli revisionist historian Ilan Pappe has outraged Jewish students in Britain ahead of acceding to the Chair of History at the University of Exeter. The author of many publications relating to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Pappe is notorious for referring to 1948, the year of the birth of the State of Israel, as "the worst chapter in Jewish history."

Last week Pappe informed the Times Higher Education Supplement that "Jewish student organizations have ceased to care for the interests and concerns of Jewish students but have become a front for the Zionist point of view. They act as an arm of the Israeli embassy."

Pappe's remarks were made against a background of worsening relations between Jewish and Muslim students on the campus. Jewish students at British universities face increasing hostility from Muslim students, while campuses have become a recruiting ground for extremist Islamic groups.

Recently at Leeds University the Palestinian Solidarity Group voted that it was not unlawful to call Israel a racist and apartheid state, "as long as Judaism as a faith is not offended."

In February three universities, Oxford, Cambridge and the School of African and Asian Studies, staged an Israeli Apartheid Week, calling for boycotts and sanctions against Israel. Students at Manchester University voted to twin their union with Al-Najah National University in Nablus, which has glorified suicide bombings against Israel.

Anti-Semitism on university campuses is an area of increasing government concern. The government recently pledged to promote community cohesion through education about different faiths and prevent any manifestation of racial or religious intolerance on university campuses.

Pappe had little time for the well-documented conclusions of the All Party Parliamentary Inquiry on Anti-Semitism that Jewish students face problems of anti-Semitism from Islamic groups. (See story, this page.) He claimed, "The Semites who suffer racism today are Muslims, not Jews."

Mitch Simmons, campaign officer for the Union of Jewish Students said: "UJS will make sure Pappe doesn't use his new position in an inappropriate way."

Just before the Pesach holiday 51 gravestones were vandalized in the Jewish section of a cemetery in the northern French town of Lille.

Around a thousand people held a silent march to protest the desecration. Declarations of disgust reverberated across France as politicians and religious leaders alike condemned what many referred to as "this hateful act." Lille Mayor Martine Aubry said the silent march would send the message that "democracy will not allow" the perpetration of such unacceptable behavior.

Catholic Archbishop Gerard Defois, who took part in the march, said leaders of all faiths were "filled with emotion" as they participated in the gathering.

Jean Marie Le Pen, head of the National Front party, noted that the desecration of gravestones was a "recurring event" during election campaigns. "Attacking cemeteries, of whatever religion, is unbearable and stupid," he said.

President Jacques Chirac ordered the government "to do everything possible to find the perpetrators of this infamy so that they are severely punished."