The war is escalating between Israel and Gaza. Since the Hamas attack on Saturday October 7, around fifty anti-Semitic acts have been recorded in France and tensions are feared.
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The government fears that the ongoing conflict in the Middle East will lead to violent reactions in France and is increasing precautions. The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, summoned the prefects to strengthen the security of Jewish places of worship and religious schools. General Intelligence reports notes on this subject and around fifty anti-Semitic acts – tags, insults, threats – have been recorded; facts which gave rise to 16 arrests. The Minister of Justice, Éric Dupont-Moretti, issued a circular on Tuesday to prosecutors asking them to “firm and rapid criminal response” during'”anti-Semitic offenses”, particularly in case “attacks on the physical integrity of people from the Jewish community”. He also recalled that brandishing a Hamas flag or praising the massacres committed by the Islamist organization could constitute the offense of glorifying terrorism..
>> War between Hamas and Israel: between bombings and drug shortages, the difficult work of humanitarian NGOs in Gaza
Part of the radical left shifts from anti-Zionism to anti-Semitism
Several organizations, such as the Indigenous Party of the Republic, Permanent Revolution, a small Trotskyist group, or the NPA of Philippe Poutou, applauded the attacks committed by Hamas. Messages which should earn them prosecution for advocating terrorism. Under the guise of criticizing the policy of the Israeli government, an entire fringe of the far left has switched from anti-Zionism to anti-Semitism. She does not have a monopoly on it. The far right remains anti-Semitic. A violent demonstration called “Day of Rage” illustrated this in 2014, for example. But within the radical left, this discourse has become so obsessive that it is common to see some activists brandishing Palestinian flags on the sidelines of demonstrations against pension reform or police violence.
With each increase in tension in the Middle East, fear resurfaces
As for recent history, we must go back to the second Intifada which fueled anti-Semitism in France, from the years 2001-2002. Synagogues have been attacked, individuals attacked, sometimes killed. With each increase in tension in the Middle East, we therefore worry about the “risk of importing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”, a euphemism to say that the Jews of France are threatened. A refrain that has become almost ordinary, as if we had become accustomed to the unbearable: in France, Jewish children are forced to be protected by the police to go to school… Because they are Jews.