“It’s a salutary initiative, we need Jews to hear a surge of solidarity,” reacted the president of Crif

“It’s a salutary initiative, we need the Jews to hear a surge of solidarity, a cry from the heart of the French”reacted this Tuesday on franceinfo Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France Crif (Crif), after the call from the President of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, and the President of the National Assembly, Yaël-Braun- Pivet, at a rally against anti-Semitism on Sunday. “Jews are facing an unprecedented wave of anti-Semitism in France”he added.

That the Senate and the National Assembly, “two republican institutions”call together to this gathering “it is a way of showing that the Republic is mobilized from start to finish. We hope that as many French people as possible will respond favorably to this call to express their rejection of anti-Semitism.”

Yonathan Arfi estimated that “anti-Semitism has changed scale. In the 90s, there were a few dozen anti-Semitic acts recorded each year by the Ministry of the Interior. From 2000 to 2022, we were at a few hundred and for the first time in 2023, we will reach a thousand anti-Semitic acts.” The president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France goes so far as to speak of “an anti-Semitic tsunami. It has come out of its bed, it is overflowing and we do not know what dikes tomorrow will be able to hold it back.”

The president of Crif “will choose the people he will walk alongside”

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the president of the La France insoumise party declared Tuesday evening on X (ex-twitter): “Sunday demonstration of the ‘republican arc’ of the RN at the macronie of Braun-Pivet. And under the pretext of anti-Semitism, brings back Israel-Palestine without asking for a ceasefire. The friends of unconditional support for the massacre have their meeting -YOU.” For his part, LFI deputy Manuel Bompard declared on France Info on Tuesday: “I would find it particularly incongruous to participate in a demonstration of this nature in the presence of the RN.”

For Yonathan Arfi, “those who must be present” at this gathering, are those “who consider that their position is clear on the question of anti-Semitism. La France insoumise is complicit in anti-Semitic speeches and actors”. The president of Crif “will choose the people he will march alongside and will only march with people whose values ​​he shares”, he insisted. He will therefore not parade alongside La France insoumise and the National Rally. He will take “the necessary distances. It is out of the question to hand over the question of anti-Semitism to them like a political trophy.”