According to BNCVA, it appears that ‘’anti-Semites want to challenge the state and prove that nothing can intimidate them, or make them give up the barbarous expression of their anti-Jewish hatred.’’
PARIS—Since thousands of people took the streets of Paris and other French cities at the initiative of political parties to demonstrate against the rise of anti-Semitism in the country and since President Emmanuel Macron made strong statements against the phenomenon, the National Bureau of Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism (BNCVA), an organization which helps victims of antisemitism in the country, said it has noted ‘’with horror and concern’’ an abnormal resurgence of anti-Semitic acts.
In his address to Crif, the representative umbrella group of Jewish institutions of France, President Macron announced that his country would adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism and restated that ‘’anti-Zionism is a modern form of antisemitism.’’
According to BNCVA, it appears that ‘’anti-Semites want to challenge the state and prove that nothing can intimidate them, or make them give up the barbarous expression of their anti-Jewish hatred.’’
More and more antisemitic tags are found in the street, painted on walls, the group notes. Threats are addressed anonymously, assaults are perpetrated
“What is shocking is the virulence of the remarks and the choice of places, always very symbolic, said Emmanuel Grégoire, first deputy mayor of Paris.
Antisemitic intent is doubly characterized; the goal is clearly to deeply hurt the community, ” he said.
Among the antisemitic incidents quoted by BNCVA, a 17-year-old riding a bicycle in a suburb north of Paris, was attacked by three unknown assailants who called him “dirty Jew”, broke his wrist and robbed his cell phone, all for wearing a kippah.
A 51-year-old woman was attacked near her home in Garez-les-Gons by two men with knives. The two called out to her, “Jewish whore, we’ll burn all of you.”
In another incident, people inscribed “dirty Jew” on the nameplate of a Jewish doctor on the facade of a dental clinic in Paris whereas they did not touch the label of his colleague a non-Jewish doctor. There were also reports of Jews in the country receiving death threats by phone and mail, sometimes accompanied by swastikas.
