“The State will be absolutely implacable”, warns Olivier Véran

“Every time there are anti-Semitic acts, threats made, we will find the perpetrators, we will punish them with justice”said the government spokesperson on France Inter on Thursday, November 2. “The State will be absolutely implacable”assured Olivier Véran, while “857 anti-Semitic acts” have been recorded since October 7 and the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, according to the Interior Ministry.

“It is absolutely scandalous, inexcusable and unacceptable that abuses, gestures, tags, threats, insults can deprive some of our fellow citizens of the freedom to go shopping, to send their children to school, to travel by public transport”added Olivier Véran.

“Latent anti-Semitism”

Tuesday, Gérald Darmanin, the Minister of the Interior, declared that 425 people were arrested for anti-Semitic acts. The opportunity for Olivier Véran to review two convictions in immediate appearance. That of a “man who uttered anti-Semitic insults in front of a store on October 9”. “He was sentenced to one year in prison, including three months. He is on an electronic bracelet at home”, he stressed. A couple also, “who tagged ‘Death to Israel'”and that “was sentenced to a three-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of 3,000 euros”specified the spokesperson for the executive.

“There was latent anti-Semitism in our country”according to Olivier Véran. “People who commit anti-Semitic acts did not wake up anti-Semitic yesterday or last week”he continued.