Antisemitic acts have surged in France especially since the 7th of October attack by Hamas terrorists in Israel.
French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal spoke recently of a ‘’wave of anti-Semitic hatred of a rare magnitude, stronger, more violent, more hared and more established than in recent years.’’
A memorial in Paris honoring people who helped to resue Jews in France during WWII was defaced with painted blood-red hands.
The Wall of the Righteous at the Shoah Memorial bears the names of 4,150 people recognized as having risked their lives to help save Jews in France.
The shameful attack on the memorial comes in the context of tensions in France over the Israel-Hamas war and occurred on Yom Haatzmaut, Israel’s Independance Day. May 14 is also the day of the 1941 Greenback Roundup, when 3,700 Jews were arrested and deported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp. “Our institution is a place of education and historical knowledge,” explained Jacques Fredj, director of the Memorial. He added: “We are acting against intolerance and ignorance at a time of confusion and instrumentalization of the history of the Shoah. Nothing will undermine our determination. On the contrary, this heinous act shows how necessary our action is now more than ever..”
Antisemitic acts have surged in the country especially since the 7th of October attack by Hamas terrorists in Israel.
The Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo said the memorial was vandalized overnight Monday to Tuesday. She described the vandalism as “unspeakable” and said she has filed a complaint with the Paris prosecutor. “No cause can justify such degradations that dirty the memory of the victims of the Shoah and of the Righteous who saved Jews at risk to their lives,” she said in a statement.
Yonathan Arfi, head of Crif, the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions, said: “No matter who the perpetrators are, this degradation of the Shoah Memorial, the symbol of the bloody hands of the terrorists who lynched two Israeli soldiers in October 2000, resonates like a hateful rallying cry against Jews.”
- At the recent annual dinner event of Crif, French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal cpromised ‘’exemplary toughness’’ in combating the ‘’outpouring’ of hatred against Jews since October 7.’’
He spoke of a ‘’wave of anti-Semitic hatred of a rare magnitude, stronger, more violent, more hared and more established than in recent years.’’
In total, “366 anti-Semitic incidents” were recorded in France in the first quarter of 2024, representing “an increase of 300% on the first three months of 2023,” Attal said.