the chief rabbi of France Haïm Korsia wants to believe in “the strength of collective mobilization”

“There is a collective issue to consider that any aggression by anyone is an aggression against the entire community”reacts Sunday March 3 on franceinfo the chief rabbi of France Haïm Korsia.

A man leaving a synagogue in the 20th arrondissement of Paris, wearing a kippah, filed a complaint after being attacked on Friday evening. According to a source close to the investigation, he explained that he had been treated like “dirty Jew”. The Paris prosecutor’s office has not yet confirmed the anti-Semitic nature of the attack. The investigation is ongoing. The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, denounced him for “new anti-Semitic aggression” and one “unspeakable act”. At any rate, “there is a collective issue and it is not just to protect French Jews”, explains Haïm Korsia. Against anti-Semitism, he wants to believe in “the strength of collective mobilization” but for that, it is necessary that “everyone feels concerned”.

File a complaint for each attack

He recalls that many victims of anti-Semitic and racist attacks do not file complaints “because they tell themselves that it’s useless” because “rankings without follow-up” and a “habit effect”. But the chief rabbi of France calls on victims to file complaints even for verbal attacks. “We have to find a way to even impose short sentences as proposed, for example” magistrate Béatrice Brugère.

Gérald Darmanin asked the prefects to strengthen protection measures for the Jewish community, particularly around schools and places of worship, after the events of recent days in Gaza. “It reassures”, comments Haïm Korsia. However, “you have to manage what is very complicated, that is to say someone quite unpredictable who decides alone to take action.”