The wave of anti-Semitic hatred continues to sweep across France, "a wave of a rare magnitude, stronger, more violent, more hared and more established than in recent years," declared Prime Minister Gabriel Attal from the podium of the Carrousel du Louvre at the 38th dinner of the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF). The event occurred on Monday, May 6, at the end of Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, and seven months, almost to the day, after the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel on October 7, 2023.
In total, "366 anti-Semitic incidents" were recorded in France in the first quarter of 2024, representing "an increase of 300% on the first three months of 2023," Attal said. "No one can deny this anti-Semitic surge," he insisted, after accusing radical-left party La France Insoumise and its leader, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, of "stirring up hatred."
Attal also criticized the far-right Rassemblement National party, pointing to "the absolute cynicism of those who claim to support French Jews out of an anti-Muslim reflex" and its change of stance toward Jews. "The string is a bit thick, no one will be fooled," he declared, before promising to "show exemplary toughness with every [anti-Semitic] act" and reiterating the government's commitment to this fight.
A few hours earlier, a conference on the fight against anti-Semitism was held in Paris under the leadership of the minister in charge of anti-discrimination, Aurore Bergé, who was also present at the CRIF dinner. Calling for a "collective awakening," she brought together the main groups fighting racism and anti-Semitism and leaders of the Catholic, Jewish, Protestant and Muslim faiths around one objective: "To create a space for free discussion and exchange (...) without a spirit of polemics." The goal is to carry out a "work of reflection on the minimum things we share, which will take the form of a manifesto on which it should never be possible to compromise," and to develop proposals for action.
The work, led by Marie-Anne Matard-Bonucci, professor of contemporary history at the University of Paris-VIII, will be completed at the end of June, after hearings with "all the political groups represented in the Assemblée Nationale," repeated Bergé, twice. This means that MPs from La France Insoumise and the Rassemblement National will also be asked to take part in these discussions.
The day before, Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League (the main group fighting anti-Semitism in the United States), declared, on the occasion of the release of the NGO's annual report: "The aftermath of Hamas's horrific attack on Israel on October 7 was followed by a tsunami of hate against Jewish communities worldwide," with the war fueling a "a fire that was already out of control."
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