People hold Israeli flags as they attend a protest in support of the hostages kidnapped during the deadly Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, ahead of the first anniversary of the attack.
That record was surpassed last year, after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. In 2023, France recorded 1,676 antisemitic incidents, compared with 436 in 2022, according to data from the French Interior Ministry and the Service for the Protection of the Jewish Community. Around 75% of them occurred in the three months following the attack.
That has prompted more French Jews to apply for Israeli nationality and residence rights; in the last three months of 2023, some 1,200 began applications to emigrate to Israel, or to “make aliyah,” a 430% increase over the same period in 2022.
Still, the number of Jews who actually leave has been falling each year for nearly a decade. Most simply do not want to leave their homes in France, and certainly not when Israel is engaged in active conflict. Instead, they’re adapting to the current situation by changing their everyday behavior.
Anna, a Parisian architect, has taken to covering herself and her two young daughters with kaffiyehs – the black-and-white checkered scarves that have become symbols of Palestinian nationalism – when she visits her grandmother in a Paris suburb with a large Muslim population.
There is no evidence that antisemitic acts are committed more frequently by French Muslims than by extreme far-left or far-right antisemites. But because French Muslims generally support the Palestinian cause, many French Jews – with or without reason – are afraid they might be harassed.
“I’m responsible for my daughters’ safety,” says Anna, who asked to be identified only by a pseudonym. “It’s not the time to be a hero.”
Safety in numbers
People like Christine Taieb see this sort of attitude as evidence that more education is needed if Jews and Muslims are to feel safe in France.
Young men sell etrog, a citrus fruit used during this week’s Sukkot holiday, in an Orthodox Jewish community in the east of Paris.
Ms. Taieb leads the Paris branch of Judeo-Muslim Friendship in France, a group that seeks to encourage interfaith dialogue and understanding between the two communities.
“We teach people to respect and listen to others, and learn from their experiences,” says Ms. Taieb. “The goal is to extend a hand to the person on the other side.”
Ms. Taieb says she has never personally been subjected to antisemitic remarks and refuses to be afraid. That’s a recurrent theme among Jews living in a heavily Orthodox community in the northeast of Paris.
On a sunny weekday afternoon, young men proudly wear their kippahs at stands selling etrog – a citrus fruit used to observe this week’s Sukkot holiday. The soldiers often stationed in front of a nearby school have left, stood down after an Oct. 7 anniversary alert. Hundreds of schoolchildren filter out into waiting buses and cars.
“I was educated from a young age that we should all be able to live together, that there are good people and bad. Why should I be scared?” says David Benchetrit, an etrog seller, holding out a fruit to a prospective client. “But there’s definitely a feeling of safety in numbers.”
There is a sense of defiance among many in the Jewish community here – not to give up and let fear win. Rebecca, who stops for a sandwich at a local kosher bakery, says she’s not a scared person by nature and won’t become one now.
“People tell me to be careful, to change my daily habits,” says Rebecca, who asked to be identified by her first name only to protect her family. “But I refuse to enter into that fear. The day I do that, I’ll leave.”
Still, Rebecca says she has taken down her mezuzah and changed her last name for home deliveries. Last year, she went ahead and completed her application to make aliyah – just in case.
Source link : https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2024/1017/mideast-conflict-antisemitism-france
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Publish date : 2024-10-17 17:14:00
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