Anti-Semitic acts jumped by 1,000% in France after the October 7 assault in Israel | EUROtoday

Published on : 01/25/2024 – 10:23

4 minutes

Never has such a stage been reached, in line with Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (Crif). The variety of anti-Semitic acts recorded in France jumped final 12 months to succeed in 1,676, in comparison with 436 in 2022, in line with a Crif report, which deplores an “explosion” after October 7, the date of Hamas assaults in opposition to Israel.

In six out of ten circumstances (57.8%), the acts recorded final 12 months have been assaults on individuals (bodily violence, threatening phrases and gestures, and so forth.) reasonably than on property, in line with this report compiling figures. recorded by the Ministry of the Interior and the Jewish Community Protection Service (SPCJ, a corporation linked to Crif and which works with the police on counting anti-Semitic acts).

But these figures mirror “only part” of anti-Semitic acts, these which have been the topic of a grievance or a report back to the police, recollects Crif.

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Crif specifies that the report was produced “thanks to feedback from police stations and gendarmes, then qualified during monthly discussions with the Ministry of the Interior and the SPCJ”.

In greater than 40% of circumstances, it concerned “threatening words and gestures”. And in the event that they have been primarily dedicated within the personal sphere (32%) and on public roads (20.4%), 7.5% have been recorded on the Internet.

“Rejuvenation of the perpetrators of anti-Semitic acts”

Another worrying level for the Crif, 12.7% of the acts passed off in a college setting, nearly all of which have been in faculty. “We are witnessing a rejuvenation of the perpetrators of anti-Semitic acts. School is no longer a sanctuary of the Republic,” he laments.

“For the first time in a long time, the coming generations are more susceptible to anti-Semitic prejudices than previous generations,” explains Yonathan Arfi, figuring out “three fuels” for this phenomenon: “hatred of Israel, Islamism and conspiracy.”

An “explosion” after October 7

In a country which is home to the largest Jewish community in Europe (around 500,000 people), Crif notes an “explosion” (+1,000%) of anti-Semitic acts after October 7. During the three months that followed, their number “equaled that of the previous three years combined”.

“October 7 served as a catalyst for hatred, activating latent anti-Semitism, and disinhibiting action,” said Yonathan Arfi, according to whom the vision of massacred Israeli civilians played a triggering role in this phenomenon.

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The Hamas attack on October 7 on Israeli soil resulted in the deaths of more than 1,140 people, according to an AFP count based on official data. Israel launched a vast military operation which killed 25,700 Palestinians, according to a latest report from the Islamist movement’s Ministry of Health.

No “empathy effect”

Already in 2012, after the attack on a Jewish school in Toulouse where three children and a teacher were killed by the radicalized delinquent Mohamed Merah, a 200% increase in anti-Semitic acts was noted. The increase was 300% after the jihadist attack on the Hypercacher supermarket in 2015.

“After October 7, we could have had an effect of empathy, a vaccine effect, it was the opposite,” sighs the president of Crif.

However, from around forty each month over the summer period, anti-Semitic acts rose to 563 in October, 504 in November and 175 in December, marking a decline at the end of the year.

Crif also recalls that some Jews in France may have been tempted to hide what could designate them as Jews – a mezuzah on the door, a name on the mailbox… Yonathan Arfi is worried: “The danger of finish is that of an invisibility of Jews within the public house. It is a victory which there isn’t a query of serving to anti-Semites.

With AFP