Some 588 anti-Semitic acts have been recorded by Place Beauvau since the Hamas attack on Israel. These are tags, insults, individuals lurking near a synagogue with a knife, like Thursday October 19 in Strasbourg. The figure is even more striking if we compare it to the year 2015, the worst in the last decade in terms of anti-Semitic acts, marked by the Hypercasher attack. If 808 incidents were recorded throughout 2015, that’s almost 600 in two weeks. “I have rarely seen the Jewish community so scared,” confides an executive advisor. The government had anticipated this worrying upsurge by strengthening security around 600 places frequented by the Jewish community on October 7.
Severe penalties and an awareness project
The executive line is “don’t let anything go”. Some 336 people were arrested by the police. The Minister of Justice, Éric Dupond-Moretti, asked prosecutors to be severe. Sentences have already been handed down: eight months in prison here, six months there, or even house arrest under an electronic bracelet. There are currently 237 investigations opened for anti-Semitic acts or the glorification of terrorism. Online hatred is also particularly scrutinized. Dilcrah, the Interministerial Delegation for the Fight against Racism, Anti-Semitism and Anti-LGBT Hatred, carried out “hundreds of reports” in 15 days. “One person only does that and it doesn’t stop unfortunately,” we confided to Dilcrah, which brought together internet platforms last week to remind them that they must delete this content within 24 hours. Some 300 reports are already the subject of legal investigations.
>> Anti-Semitism: 91% of Jewish students say they have already been victims of it at university, according to a study
The executive displays the greatest possible firmness once the anti-Semitic acts have taken place, but how can we fight upstream? Many say it: it is a subject of education. The Ministers of Higher Education, Sylvie Retailleau, and of the Fight against Discrimination, Bérangère Couillard, brought together university representatives against racism and anti-Semitism last Tuesday to open an awareness-raising project. “This fight must be done at all ages”, said an advisor. The boss of Dilcrah, Olivier Klein, will be interviewed on November 14 by the Assembly’s study group on anti-Semitism, for a situation update. But one MP admits: “It is very difficult to fight an ever-rampant evil like anti-Semitism.”