An unreserved condemnation. During questions to the government in the National Assembly on Tuesday, October 31, Elisabeth Borne described anti-Semitic acts on the rise in France since the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel on October 7 as “despicable actions.”
While believing that it is the “duty of the Republic to protect all the Jews of France”, the Prime Minister reminded the deputies that “attacking someone because they are Jewish […] it is an attack on the very soul of the Republic.”
More than 850 incidents since October 7
And while within the rebellious ranks, several personalities, including the former presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon and the leader of the LFI deputies Mathilde Panot, have sparked controversy for their lack of empathy towards the Jewish people, who experienced their greatest massacre since the Shoah, Elisabeth Borne insisted that “nothing can be tolerated, justified or excused”. And to promise that “all those who are guilty of these acts” will be “arrested and condemned”.
It must be said that since the resurgence of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the beginning of October, “more than 850 incidents have taken place and nearly 6,000 online reports have been made”, indicated the Prime Minister who announced “more than 430 arrests and more of 230 ongoing investigations.
A unanimous condemnation of the mayors
This is particularly the case in the capital, where the Paris prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation for “degradation of the property of others aggravated by the circumstance that it was committed due to origin, race, ethnicity or religion” after the discovery of Stars of David stencilled on building facades.
These tags were discovered in the 14th arrondissement of Paris this Tuesday, October 31, rue d’Alésia, rue Dareau and in other adjacent streets. “This act of marking recalls the processes of the 1930s and the Second World War which led to the extermination of millions of Jews,” the mayor of the 14th arrondissement, Carine Petit, protested on X (formerly Twitter).
A desire to “terrify”
The mayor of Petit-Quevilly in Seine-Maritime, Charlotte Goujon, also filed a complaint at the start of the week due to tags “of an anti-Semitic nature” – including swastikas, insults against Jews, the State of Israel or even threats directly targeting the elected official.
Similar tags appeared last weekend in Vanves and Fontenay-aux-Roses (Hauts-de-Seine), as well as in Aubervilliers and Saint-Ouen (Seine-Saint-Denis), where the stencils were accompanied by inscriptions such as “From the sea to the Jordan, Palestine will overcome”.
“During the weekend of October 28 and 29, walls in our city were sprayed with ostensibly anti-Semitic inscriptions,” said the UDI mayor of Aubervilliers, Karine Franclet, in a press release, recalling that “anti-Semitism constitutes an offense.”
For the president of the Union of Jewish Students of France (UEJF) Samuel Lejoyeux, who was able to speak with our colleagues from AFP, “there is clearly a desire to terrify among the people who did this.”