Several banners read “Boycott of the Israeli occupier” but also ‘’Israel laboratory of police violence.’’

“As usual during these rallies, there is the danger of antisemitic manifestations such as demonizing slogans and chants, the promotion of BDS, and, as during the summer 2014, attacks against Jewish or presumed Jewish targets,” said Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Shimon Samuels

An anti-Israel rally was organised on Saturday in central Paris by a coalition of Palestinian groups, including: Samidoun, the  Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, BDS (Boycott, Disinvestment, Sanctions) France and Euro-Palestine. The rally, supported by the extreme left and trade unions, aimed at denouncing Israel’s plan to annex parts of the West Bank in the framework of the Trump Mideast plan.

The rally started on Boulevard Barbès, before joining Place de la République and Place de la Nation in eastern Paris.

Their message: “This openly colonialist and racist regime feels ever more confident on this criminal path as world news focuses on the Coronavirus pandemic and its consequences. It hopes to deflect attention from its ongoing crimes against the Palestinian people.”

The organizers, engaged ‘’in the fight against racism and colonialism,’’ had called for a demonstration ‘’in solidarity with Palestine and its resistance.”

“The Palestinians will not leave, they are at home” the participants chanted,  displaying their “support for Palestine” and the recognition of a Palestinian state.

Other slogans heard: “Israel murderer and criminal, Macron accomplice”.

Most of the protesters were dressed in the colors of the Palestinian flag and waved many Palestinian flags. They also demanded “sanctions against Israel.”

Several banners read “Boycott of the Israeli occupier” but also ‘’Israel laboratory of police violence.’’

Last weekend, during a rally in Paris against racism in the wake of the George Floyd’s killing by a policeman in Minneapolis, virulent anti-Semitic and anti-Israel slogans were screamed by protesters such as “dirty Jews” as some waved placards reading the same slogan “Israel, laboratory of police violence.”

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre said that similar events were planned across France, in Marseille, Lille, Nice, Strasbourg, Ajaccio, Albertville, Auch, Auxerre, Caen, Clermont-Ferrand, Nancy, Nimes, Rennes, Saint-Etienne but also across Europe and worldwide, in Luxembourg, Gothenburg (Sweden), Bonn and Koblenz (Germany), Vienna (Austria), and Rome, Milan, Turin, Naples, Bologna, Cagliari, Genoa, Messina, Palermo, Siracusa, Vicenza (Italy), Santa Ana (California), Toronto (Canada).

“As usual during these rallies, there is the danger of antisemitic manifestations such as demonizing slogans and chants, the promotion of BDS, and, as during the summer 2014, attacks against Jewish or presumed Jewish targets,” said Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Shimon Samuels