Jews of France on the "volcano of anti-Semitism"

On August 14, in the garden of the city hall of Epinay-sur-Seine (a suburb of Paris), unknown antisemites cut down an olive tree planted in memory of Ilan Halimi, a French citizen of Jewish origin who was brutally murdered in 2006. For those who have forgotten, Ilan was kidnapped by a "gang of barbarians" (as they called themselves) for ransom; over the course of 24 days, he was subjected to abuse and torture, and died from multiple stab wounds and burn injuries. The gang, consisting of Muslim immigrants, chose him as a victim expecting a hefty ransom because of his Jewish origin, and subjected him to particularly inhuman torture, as the police specified, for the same reason.

Photo credit: Haim Tzakh, LAAM

The murder of Ilan Halimi has become a symbol of the new French anti-Semitism, which significantly differs from the right-wing anti-Semitism of the 1980s and 1990s, characterized by acts of vandalism at Jewish cemeteries and the Holocaust denial by Jean-Marie Le Pen. The anti-Semitism of today's France is the anti-Semitism of radical Islam, emanating from the milieu of Muslim immigrants, usually of the second and third generation, which manifests itself in the use of direct physical violence, including acts of armed terror against Jewish schools, shops, and synagogues. The terrorist attacks against a Jewish school in Toulouse (2012) and a kosher food supermarket in Paris (2015) shocked not only the Jewish community but also a significant part of French society. But neither society nor even the state has drawn any conclusions about the need for a serious and uncompromising fight against this evil. Feeling their complete impunity, Islamic radicals from the immigrant neighborhoods began to attack not only synagogues, but also churches, theaters, police stations, and, of course, they riddled with bullets the editorial office of a newspaper that dared to laugh at the Prophet Muhammad. 

However, Jews remained the main target of Islamic radicals, while the perpetrators of the most barbaric attacks were not even militants who had undergone special training in Syria or Afghanistan, but ordinary people who lived next door to Jews, or school-age teenagers. The murder of Sarah Halimi (2017) by a Muslim neighbor, in addition to a new shock, caused indignation in the Jewish community with the shameful refusal of the French justice system to confirm the anti-Semitic nature of the attack. The murder of 85-year-old Mireille Knoll (2018), a Holocaust survivor, in her apartment in Paris by two emigrants of Muslim origin, caused a new wave of indignation, but nothing more. In this climate of permissiveness and impunity, it is hardly surprising that the rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl by three teenagers in Courbevoie, a suburb of Paris, because of her origin, caused nothing but another wave of indignation.

Since October 7, 2023, anti-Semitism in France has acquired a new quality - it has become a routine. In fact, almost every day, there are physical attacks, acts of discrimination, and vandalism against Jews - in city centers, in broad daylight, and, as a rule, with impunity. Yesterday (August 21), a group of Israeli children was denied entry to an amusement park in the Pyrénées-Orientales region. On August 20, Jewish tourists' cars in Haute-Savoie were daubed with the slogan "Free Palestine". On August 18, in Villeurbanne, near Lyon, unknown antisemites tore out a plaque commemorating the Righteous Among the Nations who saved Jews during the Holocaust...

I borrowed the metaphor of a smoking volcano of anti-Semitism in France from Richard Abitbol, ​​one of the leading figures in the French Jewish community and honorary president of the "Confederation of Jews in France and Friends of Israel". In his article in the newspaper "Tribune Juive" on August 15, emphasizing the everyday occurrence of anti-Semitism in the country, the author warns of an impending eruption of the volcano of French anti-Semitism. I cannot help but quote his forecast: "This eruption will not be an old-fashioned pogrom. It will be the normalization of hatred. A concerted elimination from society. The transformation of French Jews into invisible people, forced to hide their identities, flee their neighborhoods, and perhaps their country. The imperceptible transition from democracy to systemic injustice. We are not in the 1930s. We may already be in the 1940s without realizing it. The camps are no longer physical; they are mental, social, and digital. But the confinement is real. Including, of course, the violence."

In addition to calling to stop the impending catastrophe for the Jews, the article contains a direct accusation against the political elite of France, not only of inaction, but also of facilitating the rampant anti-Semitism. According to Abitbol, ​​the French Republic is complicit in anti-Semitism, playing a double game on this issue, while President Macron, "instead of putting out the fire, plays with matches". These accusations, unfortunately, have serious grounds. The President of France refused to participate in the national march against anti-Semitism, which took place in October 2023, when Islamic radicals launched an anti-Semitic campaign after the tragedy of October 7. Although his party comrades organized the march, President Macron did not attend the event, as did the leader of the left-wing party "France Unbowed", Jean-Luc Mélenchon, known for his anti-Semitic remarks in the spirit of Soviet propaganda. Today, La France Insoumise is widely considered a party of poorly concealed anti-Semitism. In the snap parliamentary elections following the dissolution of the National Assembly in June 2024, Macron's party made an electoral deal with Mélenchon to prevent Marine Le Pen's National Rally from winning. By falsely accusing Le Pen's party of anti-Semitism, the "Macronists" actually supported Mélenchon's party of antisemites, and allowed it to strengthen its representation in parliament.

Macron personally participated in the public demonization and delegitimization of Israel, which inevitably increased anti-Semitic hatred in France. First, on Macron's instructions, the French Ministry of Defense cancelled the participation of Israeli companies in the Eurosatory arms exhibition (June 2024). This decision caused reputational damage to Israel, although a French court later overturned the ban. But this was only the beginning. A few months later, Macron, unhappy with Israel's policies in Gaza, declared that "Netanyahu should not forget that the UN created Israel." By distorting historical facts, Macron cast doubt on the legitimacy of Israel, which provoked a sharp reaction from the country's leading Jewish organization, the CRIF, which usually refrains from criticizing the government. But the French president went even further in his attempt to demonize Israel, accusing the Jewish state of "barbaric methods" in its war against Hamas. These irresponsible statements by Macron are no different from the rhetoric of French Islamists and Hamas supporters in "France Insoumise," whose anti-Zionism has long been a cover and justification for acts of anti-Semitism.

Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu sent a letter to the French president expressing deep concern about the rise of anti-Semitism in France and linking it to Macron's decision to recognize a Palestinian state. In fact, as shown above, the increase in anti-Semitism began much earlier. The decision to recognize Palestine certainly strengthens the anti-Israeli atmosphere in France, but it fits in perfectly with the logic of the pro-Palestinian policy of Macron's predecessors. Let me remind you that Jacques Chirac constantly sharply criticized Israel on the issue of Palestine, and Nicolas Sarkozy even recognized the Palestinian state within UNESCO, which entailed the withdrawal of the United States and Israel from this organization. 

The problem is that Macron, unlike his predecessors (with the possible exception of De Gaulle, who called the Jews "an elite and dominant people"), allows himself to make offensive statements about Israel, thus contributing to anti-Semitic sentiments in the country. Moreover, for political and electoral reasons, Macron exploits anti-Israel rhetoric to pacify the Muslim community in France (which makes up 10% of the population) and, at the same time, despite the opposition in his own party, seeks to cooperate with "France Insoumise", which covers up its anti-Semitic views with an anti-Zionist ideology.

What can be done to prevent a catastrophic scenario? Let me return to Richard Abitbol's article: "We demand that anti-Semitism no longer be seen as just another opinion, but as what it really is: a social pathology, a disease of democracy, an indicator of collective degeneration. And that those who spread it are not seen as political players, but as the enemies of the Republic that they are." It is time for the leaders of the French Republic to remember that the rampant anti-Semitism in the country is only the precursor to severe hardships not only for Jews, but for everyone else. Anti-Semitism is only an entrée.