In the midst of an upsurge in anti-Semitic acts in France since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 – we saw a 4-fold increase in these acts between 2022 and 2023 – President Emmanuel Macron welcomed the members of the Representative Council this Monday, March 18. Jewish institutions of France (Crif), for the 80th anniversary of the organization.
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In an opening speech of this evening, Yonathan Arfi, the president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (Crif), has several times drawn the parallel between the circumstances of the creation of the organization, under the German occupation, and the current context where many French Jews fear for their safety and their future. Repeatedly citing totalitarian and Islamist threats, Yonathan Arfi believes that the French republican model has never been as attacked as since the creation of Crif 80 years ago, reports Marie Casadebeigfrom RFI’s France service.
Beyond anti-Semitic attacks, he believes that French Jews have been victims of essentialization since the Hamas attacks last October. “ Jews, everywhere since October 7, instead of encountering a surge of solidarity that one might have expected, are facing an unprecedented wave of anti-Semitic acts, but also a violent essentialization, a summons to answer for the situation. in the Middle East “, did he declare.
Emmanuel Macron’s commitment against anti-Semitism
“ A symbolic trial still accuses them of the ultimate crime of inhumanity: that of being allegedly insensitive, because Jewish, to the fate of Palestinian civilian populationscontinued the president of Crif. This accusation is fundamentally anti-Semitic rhetoric. So, I want to say it once and for all here, because we are Jews and because we are French, we mourn the distress of all the civilian populations, notably Israeli and Palestinian, including therefore that of Gaza, thrown into the war by Hamas and sacrificed by this terrorist regime. »
Faced with doubt and discouragement, to use the words of Emmanuel Macron, the President of the Republic insisted on his commitment against anti-Semitism in all its forms. The State will be intractable. “ There is this chain from president to president, at the head of our Republic: act against the separatists, against all the bearers of hatred, and give in nothing to anti-Semitism. And in this matter, I say it with the greatest force this evening, there is no place for anti-Semitism, whatever it may be, and there will never be : “Yes, but”. Of explanation of this or justification of that. None, ever. »
The head of state promises a judicial and security response, and a fight to continue to build awareness in schools and universities.
Read alsoExplosion of anti-Semitic acts in France: a phenomenon far from being new