“Anti-Semitism knows how to take the clothes of the moment so that its discourse spreads in society”, declared Monday July 18 on franceinfo Yonathan Arfi, the new president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France (Crif), after the commemorations this weekend of the 80th anniversary of the Vel d’Hiv roundup.
franceinfo: This weekend marked the 80th anniversary of the Vel d’Hiv roundup. Do you feel that the memory of the Vel d’Hiv has been transmitted?
Jonathan Arfi: It is very paradoxical. Sure enough, the story was passed down. It is taught in schools. There are generations who have learned it and at the same time, we have seen the resurgence in recent months in the public debate of a questioning, a contestation of this history of the Shoah. I think it was important that on the occasion of its 80th birthday, on all levels, politically, but also culturally in society, it was reaffirmed what France’s responsibility was , especially in the deportation of Jews during the Holocaust.
This legacy was called into question during the presidential election, where we saw the attempt to rehabilitate Pétain reappear in the speech of Éric Zemmour. This has been echoed by a number of commentators. We feel that all the time there are people who challenge the idea that it’s healthy to look your story in the face. I think precisely the opposite. When Jacques Chirac acknowledged France’s responsibility in 1995, it was an important moment. This is precisely what, today, must continue so that we can quite simply do useful work, that is to say that this memory of the Shoah can serve in today’s society.
Emmanuel Macron explains that anti-Semitism has been on the rise for almost thirty years? You agree ?
Yes, it is a reality. In the early 2000s, a wave of anti-Semitism resurfaced in France, which emerged in particular in parallel with the second Intifada in the Middle East. We have seen, from the beginning of the 2000s, young Jews being attacked because they were identified as such. We have seen anti-Semitism develop new faces. I am obviously thinking of the question of Islamism. Anti-Semitism was also able to express itself in certain working-class neighborhoods where ‘the Jew’ was targeted because he was perceived as the figure of the establishment and of the oppressing system. Of course, there remains the traditional background of historical anti-Semitism.
And then, in recent years, what has increased in power, which has struck me a lot, are the conspiratorial speeches. We found a conspiratorial anti-Semitism, for example, at the time of the demonstration against the health pass. We also found that during the movement of the yellow vests. You see that anti-Semitism has always had many faces and it changes over time. He knows how to take the clothes of the moment so that his speech is diffused in society.
This weekend, the president of the group France insubordinate to the National Assembly, Mathilde Panot, called not to forget the crimes of the collaborationists of the Vichy regime. Today, more than ever, she said, with a President of the Republic who honors Pétain. How does his message inspire you?
Shortcuts and false historical comparisons are dangerous. For me, what matters to me is to remember that the memory of the Shoah cannot bear any manipulation, any recuperation. So, indeed, a tweet of this type does not serve the memory of the Holocaust and seems out of place to me. I believe that this Sunday, Emmanuel Macron’s speech provided a clear answer. There is no doubt today about what France’s official position is. It’s better this way. I am not in the mind of the President of the Republic. What matters to me is that he, as President of the Republic, in the name of France, very clearly refixed the line, namely that the French State was responsible and France through the French State, responsible.
Eighty-nine members of the National Rally were elected to the National Assembly last June. What do you think ?
Today, we have 89 deputies from the National Rally. We have a block around insubordinate France which is also extremely important. For the Jews of France, these are really two blocks that are problematic for different reasons. Their stories are different but today they are a problem for us politically, including the France insoumise bloc. There was within rebellious France, as we have seen, a tendency which I call the “Corbyn” tendency. You can’t parade around Paris with Jeremy Corbyn, accused of complacency with anti-Semitism and, on the other hand, display yourself in the fight against anti-Semitism. I invite those who, all of a sudden, want to appear on these issues to first denounce anti-Semitism coming from their camp, regardless of where it is expressed.