In Budapest, on the banks of the Danube, the faces of the representatives of the main European Jewish associations seem serious. Meeting in Congress in Hungary on June 20 and 21, they describe a frank rise in anti-Semitism during the pandemic, with an explosion of conspiracy theories blaming the Jewish community. As the affair of the Avignon fresco this week, a painting representing Emmanuel Macron manipulated by the economist Jacques Attali, shows, France is not spared by this anti-Semitic push.
France, a special case
For the first time, during this Congress, the European Jewish Association unveiled an index of the quality of Jewish life in Europe. This ranking of European countries combines several factors such as the fight against anti-Semitism, security or respect for religious freedom. According to this study, conducted over two years by British statistician Daniel Staetsky, of Jewish Policy Research, the most benevolent nations towards Jewish communities would be Italy and Hungary, the least benevolent Belgium and Poland .
France is a special case, “an anomaly” according to Daniel Staetsky. “The vast majority of French people are not anti-Semitic and the French authorities are doing an excellent job of protecting Jewish communities, one of the very best in Europe, explains the researcher. The only way to improve would be to stick a soldier behind every Jew!”
But France is also the country where the Jewish community feels the least safe, far behind our neighbors. “French Jews are extremely worried, at a level incomparable with the rest of the other European countries, underlines Daniel Staetsky, surprised by these figures at the beginning of his study. They feel a very strong anti-Semitism and they think that this phenomenon is increasing. In fact, however, 69% say they are not concerned by anti-Semitic acts, a level comparable to Austria or Denmark.
According to the report by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research, published in June 2022, the feeling of insecurity is at its highest in the Jewish community in France.
Institute for Jewish Policy Research
Present in Hungary for the delivery of the report, Joël Mergui said he was concerned about these figures. “It seems that the Jews of France do not feel safe, with a feeling at the bottom of the scale in Europe, blows the president of the Israelite Consistory of Paris and Ile-de-France. I believe that he corresponds to a premonitory feeling of French Judaism. Too little is said about the rise of populism in Europe. Now, those who have the barometer of populism, those who feel it in the street, are the Jews. In France, we have felt in recent years, election after election, mounting the extremes, the extreme right and the extreme left.”
Less and less visible protection
According to Daniel Staetsky, the anxiety of the Jewish community in France is mainly explained by the dozen violent anti-Semitic crimes committed in France in recent years, which hardly exist among our neighbors. “The Paris region is like a miniature Europe, with neighborhoods in which the far right has risen, and others where it is the far left, continues Joël Mergui. You have anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism, radical Islamism. How do you expect the Jews of Europe not to be worried?”
After the anti-Semitic attacks, against the Hypercacher in 2015 or the Jewish school Ozar Hatorah in Toulouse in 2012, the places where the Jewish community lives were placed under high protection by the French authorities. “These measures are taken, but they are no longer very visible, believes Joël Mergui. France considered that it was more effective to have mobile guards than static guards, which means that Jews who arrive in a place don’t see the police or the soldiers anymore. So they are more worried.”
This French paradox poses a worrying observation, which is the limit of public action against anti-Semitism. Following this report, the European Jewish Association is preparing to make concrete proposals to each country in order to improve the situation. For France, the game looks complex.