The French parliament´s president demanded legal action Friday after 55 lawmakers were bombarded with an anti-Semitic e-mail.

Titled "Everything you ever wanted to know about Jews but were afraid to ask," the e-mail said: "They are everywhere, they have a hold on everything."

The e-mail did not say who sent it.

National Assembly President Jean-Louis Debre asked Paris prosecutors to pursue those responsible for the "violently anti-Semitic" tract, his office said.

It refused to name the 55 lawmakers who received the e-mail.

French President Jacques Chirac promised a tough crackdown on anti- Semitism after an arson attack on a Jewish school outside Paris this month. There were no injuries, but the building was gutted.

On November 16th, a pre-dawn fire destroyed part of a suburban Jewish school. No injuries were reported in the blaze at the Merkaz Hatorah private school, attended by some 160 junior high school students and 60 students in the high school.

Jewish schools, synagogues, and cemeteries have been hit in anti- Semitic attacks that peaked in 2002 when a Marseille synagogue was deliberately burned to the ground. (© 1995-2003, The Jerusalem Post 11/28/03)