887. This is the number of anti-Semitic acts that have been recorded by the Ministry of the Interior since the beginning of 2024. This is almost three times more than in 2023 over the same period, during which 304 acts were recorded. “Anti-Semitism, which has always existed, is no longer hidden. It is an insult to the dead, the wounded, the humiliated and to our History,” declared Gérald Darmanin this Friday, August 9 during a ceremony for the victims of the attack on Rue des Rosiers.
A “despicable and anti-Semitic crime”, specified the resigning minister, which cost the lives of six people on August 9, 1982. That same day, twenty-two others were injured by a grenade explosion in the Jo Goldenberg restaurant, then a shooting in the Marais district in the heart of Paris. The problem is that, for the time being, “justice has not yet been served on this despicable and anti-Semitic crime”, specified the Minister of the Interior. Only one of the four suspects in the attack has been convicted by the French courts. The president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF) Yonathan Arfi notably deplored the fact that “for too long our national conscience has hidden this attack”.
Kamala Harris’ husband present
Reiterating the government’s “unwavering support for the Jews of France,” Gérald Darmanin considered that “these are the words that today fuel the anti-Semitism that affects us all” and “that urge us today to lead a cultural fight.” Faced with the rise of anti-Semitism, “how can politicians consider that it is residual?” added the resigning minister, in an allusion to comments by the rebellious leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
The husband of US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris was honored with his presence. Doug Emhoff, who announced on Thursday that he had donated some $2 million to UNESCO to combat anti-Semitism, laid one of the wreaths and lit one of the six candles in memory of the victims. “The United States stands with you in solidarity,” he said, expressing his “pride in (his) Jewish identity.” And hammering home to applause: “We cannot be silent and we must not be afraid.”
Present for the occasion, the socialist mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, who opened the ceremony, pleaded for “relentlessly tracking down those who feed this filthy beast of anti-Semitism”. And renewed her “strongest condemnation” of the Hamas attack on 7 October against Israel, which resulted in the death of 1,198 people, the majority of them civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data.