opinion
BY GERARD LEVAL
F rance is the frequent object of accusations of
antisemitism. The various attacks on Jews and
Jewish institutions in recent years seem to fully
warrant the fears regarding the presence and growth
of antisemitism in France.

There is simply no denying the reality of this sit-
uation but, fortunately, this is not the whole story.

One need merely note the identity of the current
French prime minister and of the newly desig-
nated president of France’s National Assembly to
know that there is another side to the story.

The French nation remains today, as it has been
since the French Revolution of 1789, a schizo-
phrenic nation. Enlightenment philosophy battles
a kind of obscurantism. Hospitality clashes with
xenophobia. Tolerance is in a continuing struggle
with intolerance. And France’s treatment of its
Jewish population epitomizes this schizophrenia.

Observers of life in France have noted the
recent terrible violence perpetrated against some
Jews, such as the vile killing of three children
and an adult at a Jewish school in Toulouse a
few years ago. Or, when a young Jewish man
was tortured and killed by a gang of sub-Saharan
immigrants who had kidnapped him because they
thought that since he was Jewish he must be rich.

Just fi ve years ago, a young Muslim defenestrated
his Jewish neighbor while shouting antisemitic
slogans. The following year, two young Muslims
tortured and killed their elderly Jewish neighbor.

In recent months, additional violent incidents,
strongly suggesting that they were motivated
because the victims were Jewish, have occurred.

For years, attending a synagogue in Paris has
meant passing through a gauntlet of guards who
interrogate every visitor out of fear that one of
them could wreak havoc or worse. This has led to
the notion that France is a place where Jews must,
at all times, look over their shoulders.

This may be so. But there is another side to the
story. France has been witness to some of the
most important successes for the Jewish commu-
nity in Europe. It was the fi rst nation in the Western
World, even before the United States, to grant its
Jewish citizens equal rights. The economic, aca-
demic, cultural and even political achievements
of members of the French Jewish community
have been remarkable and they have been fully
recognized by the French nation. You need only
14 JULY 7, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
her Jewish origins. She was named the nation’s
second female prime minister by President
Emmanuel Macron just a couple of months ago
without much fanfare or opposition. Any opposi-
tion has had to do with the political weakness of
Macron and not with her Jewish origins.

Just a few days ago, for the fi rst time in the
nearly 230 years of its existence, the presidency
of the French National Assembly was turned over
to a woman. The new president is named Yaël
Braun-Pivet. She is descended on both sides of
her family from Eastern European Jewish immi-
grants. Her Hebrew fi rst name makes it diffi cult to
dissimulate her Jewish roots.

So, as of this week, two of the most important
political positions in France are held by women
with Jewish origins. While this cannot in any
manner reduce the pain and horror of the various
antisemitic attacks to which Jews in France have
been subjected in recent years, it does suggest
that it may be too facile simply to write off France
as an antisemitic nation.

France is a very complex nation. Its history can
probably best be described as a rollercoaster ride.

Reminiscent of the statement made about the little
French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne
girl with the curl, it can appropriately be asserted
that when France is good, it is very, very good and
when it is bad, it is horrid.

Over past decades, the accession of Jews to
some of the highest positions of power in France
has been taken in stride. The uneventful appoint-
ment of two women descended from Jewish
immigrants to the very pinnacle of the French
governing structure is yet another manifestation
of the best side of the French national character.

None of this erases the terrible chapters of French
antisemitism, but it does suggest that there may
yet be hope for the future for the French Jewish
community. Whether the good side of France’s national
character can prevail over the bad one, remains
an open question. Perhaps, the Jewish women
look at the façade of the Paris Opera and note who have recently achieved such important polit-
that of the seven statues of composers there two ical success can help France take some of the
are of Jews.

steps necessary to ensure that there is a bright
And we do not have to look at the past. Little future for its Jewish citizens. JE
noted in the United States is the fact that the
current prime minister is the daughter of a Polish Gerard Leval is a partner in the Washington, D.C.

Jewish immigrant, who survived deportation to offi ce of a national law fi rm. He is the author of
Auschwitz. Although she was brought up by her “Lobbying For Equality, Jacques Godard and the
Catholic mother, Elisabeth Borne, whose family Struggle for Jewish Civil Rights during the French
name is actually Bornstein, has never tried to hide Revolution,” published this year by HUC Press.

For the fi rst time in the
nearly 230 years of its
existence, the presidency
of the French National
Assembly was turned
over to a woman.

EU2017EE Estonian Presidency / Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license
Two Women with Jewish
Backgrounds Ascend to
Prominence in France