H EADLINES
French Anti-
Semitism Reaches
Tipping Point
G LOBAL
SHIRYN GHERMEZIAN | JNS.ORG
WITH A 74 PERCENT rise
in anti-Semitic incidents in
2018, anti-Jewish and anti-
Israel sentiments are seem-
ingly everywhere in France,
home to Europe’s largest
Jewish population.

French Interior Minister
Christophe Castaner announced
in February that 541 anti-
Semitic incidents took place in
2018 in France, up from 311 in
2017. One of the most publi-
cized and disturbing attacks of
the year was the brutal murder
of Mireille Knoll, an 85-year-
old Holocaust survivor who was
stabbed 11 times and then set on
fi re in her apartment. Th e mur-
der was declared an anti-Semitic
hate crime.

In the fi rst weeks of 2019, two
teenagers were arrested aft er they
allegedly fi red shots at a syna-
gogue with an air rifl e in the Paris
suburb of Sarcelles, 96 tombs
were desecrated in a Jewish cem-
etery in eastern France, the word
“Juden,” which means “Jews” in
German, was scrawled across a
bagel shop in Paris, and swastikas
were drawn on public portrait
of former French politician and
Auschwitz survivor Simone Veil.

French President Emmanuel
Macron has said that France
is now experiencing a “resur-
gence of anti-Semitism unseen
since World War II.”
Arié Bensemhoun, executive
director of the nonprofi t, non-
partisan European Leadership
Network (ELNET) France, said
that though there are talks about
“new anti-Semitism,” nothing
is new about the attacks, ste-
reotypes and language used
against Jews in France.

“Th e situation is much more
complex because from all sides
of the society you will fi nd peo-
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ple that have a problem with
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defeat the system, and when
you want to defeat the system
[they think] your fi rst target
should be the Jews.”
The anti-Semitism cur-
rently taking over in France is
a re-emergence of longstanding
anti-Semitic tropes and false
stereotypes involving Jews,
money and their desire to con-
trol the world.

Bensemhoun knows people
who were beaten in the streets
and targeted with insults
because of their Jewish heri-
tage. When he was president
of the Jewish community in
Toulouse, France, he met with
tens of hundreds of people who
faced anti-Semitism and heard
about thousands of acts against
Jews over the span of 15 years,
he said.

Julie Hazan, 35, who was
born and raised in Marseille and
is now the resource development
director of ELNET New York,
said she has friends in France
terrifi ed to send their children to
Jewish schools.

“But they still do it,” said
Hazan, whose entire family
still lives in Marseille, which
has the second-largest Jewish
population in France outside
Paris. “Th ey are resilient. Th ey
are used to it. Th ey know they
can always go to Israel if they
have to, but otherwise they are
going to go on with their lives.”
“Anti-Semitism is there; it’s
a fact, but we live with it,” she
added. “For us it’s ancient.”
While the rise in anti-
Semitic incidents in France
began more than a decade
ago, a tipping point came in
February, following the van-
dalism of 80 gravestones in a
Jewish cemetery in the Alsace
region of France. It prompted
thousands of people to join
rallies in Paris and across the
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country in public opposition to
anti-Semitism. The next day, Macron
announced that he would
crack down on the “scourge”
of anti-Semitism. At a din-
ner attended by leaders of the
Jewish community in Paris,
he criticized a “resurgence of
anti-Semitism unseen since
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World War II.”
He also said France will adopt
the International Holocaust
Remembrance Alliance defi ni-
tion of anti-Semitism, adding
that “anti-Zionism is one of the
modern forms of anti-Semitism.”
Macron added that the
problem has garnered “too
much indignation, too many
words, not enough results.”
Bensemhoun called for
more action by the French gov-
ernment, saying, “Th e [govern-
ment] understands that they
should do more, and it’s clear
that we are in a critical time.”
He added, “We are coming
from a time of denial, and it’s time
to see the reality and fi ght it.” ●
MARCH 21, 2019
9