Antisemitism in 21st-century France

Further information: Gayssot Act

After World War II, antisemitism in France was vitriolic, especially during the Six-Day War and the anti-Zionist campaign of the 1970s and 1980s.[1][2] These stereotypes were strongly accepted, following the successes achieved by the extreme right-wing National Front and an increasing denial of the Holocaust in the 1990s.[3][4][5] At the same time, in the mid-1990s began the critical engagement with National Socialism, collaboration and the responsibility of the Vichy Regime, contesting La France de Vichy of Robert Paxton.[6]

At the beginning of the 21st century, antisemitism found new sources from those of leftist views and from the identification of a significant proportion of the Muslim immigrant population with the Palestinian cause on the one hand and with radical Islamism on the other.[7][8][9] A critical debate on the nature, as well as the denunciation of antisemitism linked to the situation in the Middle East (for example, the break out of the Second Intifada) and to Islam, led to divisions between anti-racist groups.[6][10][11] Most Jews in France, like most French Muslims, are of North African origin. Maud S. Mandel uses this as the basis of her inquiry Jews and Muslims in France: A History of a Conflict, where she attributes the roots of Muslim antisemitism in France to intercommunal relations in Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco; the course of decolonization, and eventually the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The idea of a rise of antisemitism in 21st-century France has been challenged by sociologists like Nonna Mayer, Laurent Mucchielli and others who indicated that antisemitic opinions were in continuous decline in France since the end of the second world war and that other forms of racism were more widespread than antisemitism.[12][13] This position was criticized by members of the French Jewish community.[14]

By early 2014 the number of French Jews making aliyah (migrating to Israel) had overtaken the number of American Jews. At the same time 70 percent of French Jews were concerned about insults or harassment and 60% about physical aggression because of their Jewishness, both figures being much higher than the European average.[15]

Extent of antisemitic acts

According to the annual reports on the fight against racism, antisemitism and xenophobia, conducted by the national human rights institution for France, the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights (Commission nationale consultative des droits de l'homme, CNCDH), disturbing levels of antisemitic actions and threats recorded in France could be found in between 2002-2004, and in 2009. According to CNCDH, antisemitic actions are defined as homicides, attacks and attempted attacks, arson, degradations, and violence and assault and battery, while antisemitic threats are defined as covering speech acts, threatening gestures and insults, graffiti (inscriptions), pamphlets and emails.[16]

Antisemitic actions and

threats recorded in France

2001 219
2002 936
2003 601
2004 974
2005 508
2006 571
2007 402
2008 459
2009 815
2010 466
2011 389

Another source of data can be found in the Criminal Affairs and Pardon Board at the Ministry of Justice (Direction des affaires criminelles et des graces, DACG), regarding the number of indictments pronounced in the calendar year in relation to racist, antisemitic and discriminatory offences:[16]

Indictments relating to offences relating to racism Indictments relating principally to racist offences Indictments relating exclusively to racist offences
2001 211 152 115
2002 228 158 115
2003 208 145 105
2004 345 236 165
2005 573 380 253
2006 611 364 275
2007 577 423 306
2008 682 469 344
2009 579 397 288
2010 567 397 298

2015 attacks

There was an attack on soldiers guarding a Jewish community center in February 2015.[17] During the January 2015 Île-de-France attacks, the Porte de Vincennes siege involved gunman taking hostages at a Kosher supermarket. In the aftermath of the attacks, the French government increased the presence of soldiers outside prominent Jewish buildings.[18]

On 24 October 3 Jewish men outside a synagogue in Marseilles were stabbed by a man shouting anti-Jewish slogans. One of the victims sustained serious abdominal wounds; he was expected to survive. The assailant was apprehended.[19]

On 18 November, 2015 a teacher in Marseille was stabbed by three men who shouted anti-Jewish slogans; one of the men wore an ISIS T-shirt. The three men approached the teacher riding two scooters and stabbed him in the arm and in the leg. They fled when a car approached.[20][21][22]

2016 attacks

On January 12, 2016 Benjamin Amsellem, a teacher, was viciously attacked by a teenage boy wielding a machete outside a Jewish school in Marseille. The attacker claimed to be acting in the name of ISIS.[23] Amsellem was able to save himself by parrying some of the machete blows with the large, leather-bound Bible he was carrying.[24] The attacker was a Kurdish Muslim whose family emigrated to France from Turkey; he was an excellent student form a stable, pious home who is said by French authorities to have self-radicalized spending long hours reading Islamist websites.[24]

Public opinion surveys

According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) opinion survey conducted in June 2002, 42 percent of French respondents believed Jews were more loyal to Israel than their own country, 42 percent said Jews have too much power in the business world and 46 percent believed Jews talked too much about the Holocaust. According to Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director "These findings are especially disturbing because they show that the old, classical form of antisemitism, which we had hoped was long gone in Europe, continues to be resilient".[25]

In 2004, the same opinion survey was conducted once again by the ADL. According to the report, 25 percent of the French public held antisemitic attitudes, down from 35 percent in 2002. 28 percent responded "probably true" to the statement, "Jews are more loyal to Israel than their own country", down from 42 percent in 2002. 15 percent responded "probably true" to the statement, "Jews don't care about anyone but their own kind", down from 20 percent.[26]

In May 2005, the ADL has published an opinion survey regarding European attitudes toward Jews. The 2005 survey indicated that over that year there has been some decline in the acceptance of certain traditional antisemitic stereotypes in France. 25 percent responded "probably true" to the statement, "Jews have too much power in the business world", down from 33 percent in 2004, while 24 percent responded "probably true" to the statement "Jews have too much power in international financial markets", down from 29 percent in 2004.[27]

Two years later, in May 2007, the ADL has published another opinion survey, which found that 22 percent of French respondents answered "probably true" to at least three of the four antisemitic stereotypes tested: Jews are more loyal to Israel than to this country, Jews have too much power in the business world, Jews have too much power in international financial markets, Jews still talk too much about what happened to them in the Holocaust. According to the survey, there has been a significant shift in the opinions of respondents regarding the cause of violence directed against French Jews - from anti-Israel sentiment to anti-Jewish feelings instead.[28]

According to the report, "Intolerance, Prejudice and Discrimination - A European Report", published by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) organization in 2011, anti-Semitic attitudes in France the same year, as a whole, are less widespread than the European average. According to a survey conducted by FES, 27.7 percent agreed with the statement "Jews have too much influence in France" and 25.8 percent agreed with the statement "Jews in general do not care about anything or anyone but their own kind" (implying disloyalty to the nation).[29]

The following year, the ADL conducted an opinion survey in 10 European countries regarding antisemitic attitudes. According to the survey, the overall level of antisemitism in France increased to 24 percent of the population, up from to 20 percent in 2009 - 45 percent responded "probably true" to the statement, "Jews are more loyal to Israel" than their own country, up from 38 percent in 2009. 35 percent responded "probably true" to the statement, "Jews have too much power in the business world", up from 33 percent in 2009. 29 percent responded "probably true" to the statement "Jews have too much power in international financial markets", up from 27 percent in 2009.[30] Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, has said regarding those findings: "In France, you have a volatile mix. France has seen an increase in the level of anti-Semitism. At the same time, more people today believe that violence directed against European Jews is fueled by anti-Jewish attitudes as opposed to anti-Israel sentiment. Those increases are all the more disturbing in light of the shooting attack at the Jewish school in Toulouse."[30]

Responses to antisemitism and racism

[43]

References

  1. ↑ http://navon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/France-Israel-and-the-Jews_39-1.pdf
  2. ↑ Le Surmoi antisémite de la Télévision Française, Times of Israel
  3. ↑ , Ushmm
  4. ↑ http://www.democraticunion.eu/2014/11/holocaust-denial-legal-concept-europe/
  5. ↑ https://mondediplo.com/1998/05/08igou
  6. 1 2 "Manifestations of antisemitism in the European Union" (PDF). EUMC. Retrieved 9 March 2013.
  7. ↑ Smith, Craig S. (26 March 2006). "Jews in France Feel Sting as Antisemitism Surges Among Children of Immigrants". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-05-04.
  8. ↑ New York Times Magazine: "A Frenchman Or a Jew?" By Fernanda Eberstadt February 29, 2004
  9. ↑ Haaretz: "French hatred of Jews goes far beyond Muslim antisemitism, says U.K. author" by Daniella Peled February 18, 2014
  10. ↑ Wieviorka, Michel (2005). The Lure of Antisemitism - Hatred of Jews in Present-Day France. Netherlands: BRILL. ISBN 978-900416337-9.
  11. ↑ Deutsche Welt: "Alarmed by antisemitism, French Jews consider flight" March 17, 2014
  12. ↑ Mucchielli, Laurent (5 March 2009). "Le " retour de l’antisémitisme " : discours rituel au dîner annuel du CRIF" (PDF) (in French). Retrieved 28 March 2012.
  13. ↑ Mayer, Nonna (1 January 2004). "Nouvelle judéophobie ou vieil antisémitisme ?". Raisons politiques 16 (4): 91. doi:10.3917/rai.016.0091.
  14. ↑ Waintrater, Meïr. "Le déni de l’antisémitisme" (in French). CRIF. Retrieved 28 March 2012.
  15. ↑ "Alarmed by anti-Semitism, French Jews consider flight". DW.COM.
  16. 1 2 "Antisemitism Summary overview of the situation in the European Union 2001–2011" (PDF). FRA. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  17. ↑ "French soldiers wounded in Nice Jewish centre attack". BBC News.
  18. ↑ "As Soldiers Guard Parisian Synagogues, Jews Question Their Place and Their Safety in France". Haaretz.com.
  19. ↑ "3 Jews stabbed in anti-Semitic attack in France". Times of Israel. 24 October 2005. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
  20. ↑ "Jewish teacher stabbed in French city of Marseille". BBC. 18 November 2015. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
  21. ↑ "Jewish Teacher Stabbed in Marseille by ISIS Supporters". New York Times. 18 November 2015. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
  22. ↑ "Jewish teacher stabbed in Marseille street by trio praising Islamic State". The Guardian. 18 November 2015. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
  23. ↑ Hall, John (12 January 2016). "Marseille machete attack: 15-year-old suspect claims he stabbed Jewish teacher 'in the name of Isis'". The Telegraph. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
  24. 1 2 Nossiter, Adam (24 January 2016). "French Jews Fear a New Strain of ISIS-Inspired Anti-Semitism". New York Times. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
  25. ↑ "ADL Survey of Five European Countries Finds One in Five Hold Strong Anti-Semitic Sentiments; Majority Believes Canard of Jewish Disloyalty". ADL. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  26. ↑ "ADL Survey Finds Some Decrease In Anti-Semitic Attitudes In Ten European Countries". ADL. Retrieved 16 March 2013.
  27. ↑ "Attitudes Toward Jews in Twelve European Countries" (PDF). ADL. Retrieved 16 March 2013.
  28. ↑ "Attitudes Toward Jews and the Middle East in Five European Countries" (PDF). ADL. Retrieved 16 March 2013.
  29. ↑ "Intolerance, Prejudice and Discrimination A European Report" (PDF). Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. Retrieved 16 March 2013.
  30. 1 2 "ADL Survey In Ten European Countries Finds Anti-Semitism At Disturbingly High Levels". ADL. Retrieved 16 March 2013.
  31. ↑ "French Jewish group distributes Antisemitox - 'a pill to cure anti-Semitism'". International Business Times UK.
  32. ↑ "Report: French Jewish Defense League Stages Attacks on 'anti-Semites'". Haaretz.com.
  33. ↑ "French lawyer disbarred for motion to replace Jewish judge". Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
  34. ↑ "France’s soaring anti-Semitism lures Jewish Defense League vigilantes out of shadows". Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
  35. 1 2 "FRANCE 2007". The Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
  36. 1 2 3 4 "FRANCE 2006". The Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
  37. 1 2 3 "FRANCE 2005". The Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
  38. ↑ "FRANCE 2004". The Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
  39. 1 2 3 4 "FRANCE 2003-4". The Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
  40. 1 2 3 "FRANCE 2002-3". The Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
  41. 1 2 "FRANCE 2001-2". The Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
  42. 1 2 "FRANCE 2000-1". The Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
  43. ↑ "antisemitism". www.MerriamWebster.com. Retrieved 29 March 2015.

External links

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