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French Jews Sound Alarm Following Far-Left Surge in Elections; France-Israel Relations Expected to Plummet
Jean-Luc Melenchon, leader of La France Insoumise party, speaks after the results of the second round of the 2024 French legislative elections, at the headquarters of La France Insoumise, July 7, 2024. Photo: Victoria Valdivia / Hans Lucas via Reuters Connect
Following a shocking election in France that brought a leftist coalition to power, French Jews are expressing deep apprehension about their future status in a country that in recent months has experienced a historic surge in antisemitism and souring relations with Israel.
Over the weekend, France’s coalition of far-left parties, the New Popular Front (NFP), won 182 seats in snap parliamentary elections, delivering a blow to Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party (RN), which was expected to perform better. However, NFP failed to obtain a majority of the 577 seats in France’s National Assembly, meaning it will need to build alliances with other parties in order to pass legislation.
French President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Ensemble alliance now has the second largest faction with 163 seats. The RN and its allies won 143 seats, garnering the third biggest representation.
The largest member of the NFP is the far-left La France Insoumise (“France Unbowed”) party, whose leader, Jean-Luc Melenchon, has styled himself as the self-appointed leader of the coalition. His new position of power has French Jews worried.
“Melenchon is a person who is a threat against the Jews,” Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF), told the Jerusalem Post after the voting on Sunday. He added that La France Insoumise (LFI) puts “a target on the back of all Jews who support Israel.”
Arfi also blasted LFI on X/Twitter, writing that it “has no place in government,” pledging to fight “its culture of violence and its antisemitic excesses.”
Shortly after the NFP’s victory, Melenchon called for France to recognize a Palestinian state, and supporters of the hard-left coalition, which includes socialist and communist parties, poured into the streets of Paris waving Palestinian flags. French flags were largely absent from the celebrations.
Melenchon in a 2017 speech referred to the French Jewish community as “an arrogant minority that lectures to the rest.”
Three years later, Melenchon suggested that Jews killed Jesus, echoing a false claim that was used to justify antisemitic violence and discrimination throughout the Middle Ages in Europe. “I don’t know if Jesus was on a cross, but he was apparently put there by his own people,” he said in an interview with a French TV station. He refused to apologize even after backlash from notable Jewish groups.
In the wake of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’ massacre across Israel on Oct. 7, Melenchon and his party issued a statement declaring the attacks “an armed offensive of Palestinian forces” as a result of continued Israeli “occupation.” Melenchon also failed to condemn a deputy who called Hamas a “resistance movement.”
As the NFP prepares to wield greater influence in the legislature, French Jews have expressed concern over what they expect to be even more hostility than what they have been facing.
“It seems France has no future for Jews,” Rabbi Moshe Sebbag of Paris’ Grand Synagogue told the Times of Israel following the ascension of the NFP. “We fear for the future of our children.”
Meanwhile, Jewish French intellectual Bernard-Henri Levy counseled in a post on X/Twitter, “Pray that Macron does not call on Melenchon [to become the next president] under any circumstances. Urge the social democrats to break their pact with this antisemite.”
NFP’s victory came amid a record surge of antisemitism in France in the wake of the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7. Antisemitic outrages rose by over 1,000 percent in the final three months of 2023 compared with the previous year, with over 1,200 incidents reported — greater than the total number of incidents in France for the previous three years combined.
Late last month, an elderly Jewish woman was attacked in a Paris suburb by two assailants who punched her in the face, pushed her to the ground, and kicked her while hurling antisemitic slurs, including “dirty Jew, this is what you deserve.”
In another egregious attack that has garnered international headlines, a 12-year-old Jewish girl was raped by three Muslim boys in a different Paris suburb on June 15. The child told investigators that the assailants called her a “dirty Jew” and hurled other antisemitic comments at her during the attack. In response to the incident, Macron denounced the “scourge of antisemitism” plaguing French society.
Now with the ascension of the far left, French Jews fear even an even greater spike in antisemitic violence. In an interview with The National — a UAE-based publication — a French Jew who requested only to be identified by his first name warned against the violence coming from France’s extreme left: “There is an urgent need to stop the far left, which has allied itself with radical Muslims — if we don’t stop it France will become even more dangerous for Jews.”
In addition to an expected increase in antisemitism, Israel-France relations are expected to nosedive, following comments by the incoming coalition. NFP has publicly called for the recognition of a Palestinian state and a break “with the guilty support of the French government for the far-right supremacist government of [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu to impose an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and enforce the order of the ICJ [International Court of Justice].” The ICJ is considering an ongoing case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of committing “state-led genocide” in its defensive war against Hamas in Gaza.
The NFP coalition’s platform also demands that Israel release all “Palestinian political prisoners,” many of whom have been imprisoned for terrorism offenses.
Under the Macron government, Israel became increasingly isolated from France. Last month, French officials banned Israeli arms manufacturers from attending Europe’s largest arms exposition, Eurosatory, citing Israel’s ongoing operations in Gaza.
The NFP coalition will likely seek to block arms sales to Israel as demands for a ceasefire grow.
Meanwhile, on Monday, France’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement condemning what it described as “colonization in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.”
Although Melenchon has called for Macron to step down, the incumbent president announced that he will remain in office until his term ends in 2027.
The post French Jews Sound Alarm Following Far-Left Surge in Elections; France-Israel Relations Expected to Plummet first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel to Issue 54,000 Call-Up Notices to Ultra-Orthodox Students
Haredi Jewish men look at the scene of an explosion at a bus stop in Jerusalem, Israel, on Nov. 23, 2022. Photo: Reuters/Ammar Awad
Israel’s military said it would issue 54,000 call-up notices to ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students following a Supreme Court ruling mandating their conscription and amid growing pressure from reservists stretched by extended deployments.
The Supreme Court ruling last year overturned a decades-old exemption for ultra-Orthodox students, a policy established when the community comprised a far smaller segment of the population than the 13 percent it represents today.
Military service is compulsory for most Israeli Jews from the age of 18, lasting 24-32 months, with additional reserve duty in subsequent years. Members of Israel’s 21 percent Arab population are mostly exempt, though some do serve.
A statement by the military spokesperson confirmed the orders on Sunday just as local media reported legislative efforts by two ultra-Orthodox parties in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition to craft a compromise.
The exemption issue has grown more contentious as Israel’s armed forces in recent years have faced strains from simultaneous engagements with Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Houthis in Yemen, and Iran.
Ultra-Orthodox leaders in Netanyahu’s brittle coalition have voiced concerns that integrating seminary students into military units alongside secular Israelis, including women, could jeopardize their religious identity.
The military statement promised to ensure conditions that respect the ultra-Orthodox way of life and to develop additional programs to support their integration into the military. It said the notices would go out this month.
The post Israel to Issue 54,000 Call-Up Notices to Ultra-Orthodox Students first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Influential Far-Right Minister Lashes out at Netanyahu Over Gaza War Policy
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends an inauguration event for Israel’s new light rail line for the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, in Petah Tikva, Israel, Aug. 17, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich sharply criticized on Sunday a cabinet decision to allow some aid into Gaza as a “grave mistake” that he said would benefit the terrorist group Hamas.
Smotrich also accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of failing to ensure that Israel’s military is following government directives in prosecuting the war against Hamas in Gaza. He said he was considering his “next steps” but stopped short of explicitly threatening to quit the coalition.
Smotrich’s comments come a day before Netanyahu is due to hold talks in Washington with President Donald Trump on a US-backed proposal for a 60-day Gaza ceasefire.
“… the cabinet and the Prime Minister made a grave mistake yesterday in approving the entry of aid through a route that also benefits Hamas,” Smotrich said on X, arguing that the aid would ultimately reach the Islamist group and serve as “logistical support for the enemy during wartime”.
The Israeli government has not announced any changes to its aid policy in Gaza. Israeli media reported that the government had voted to allow additional aid to enter northern Gaza.
The prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The military declined to comment.
Israel accuses Hamas of stealing aid for its own fighters or to sell to finance its operations, an accusation Hamas denies. Gaza is in the grip of a humanitarian catastrophe, with conditions threatening to push nearly a half a million people into famine within months, according to U.N. estimates.
Israel in May partially lifted a nearly three-month blockade on aid. Two Israeli officials said on June 27 the government had temporarily stopped aid from entering north Gaza.
PRESSURE
Public pressure in Israel is mounting on Netanyahu to secure a permanent ceasefire, a move opposed by some hardline members of his right-wing coalition. An Israeli team left for Qatar on Sunday for talks on a possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal.
Smotrich, who in January threatened to withdraw his Religious Zionism party from the government if Israel agreed to a complete end to the war before having achieved its objectives, did not mention the ceasefire in his criticism of Netanyahu.
The right-wing coalition holds a slim parliamentary majority, although some opposition lawmakers have offered to support the government from collapsing if a ceasefire is agreed.
The post Influential Far-Right Minister Lashes out at Netanyahu Over Gaza War Policy first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Australia Police Charge Man Over Alleged Arson on Melbourne Synagogue
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks to the media during a press conference with New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon at the Australian Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, Aug. 16, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Tracey Nearmy
Australian police have charged a man in connection with an alleged arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue with worshippers in the building, the latest in a series of incidents targeting the nation’s Jewish community.
There were no injuries to the 20 people inside the East Melbourne Synagogue, who fled from the fire on Friday night. Firefighters extinguished the blaze in the capital of Victoria state.
Australia has experienced several antisemitic incidents since the start of the Israel-Gaza war in October 2023.
Counter-terrorism detectives late on Saturday arrested the 34-year-old resident of Sydney, capital of neighboring New South Wales, charging him with offenses including criminal damage by fire, police said.
“The man allegedly poured a flammable liquid on the front door of the building and set it on fire before fleeing the scene,” police said in a statement.
The suspect, whom the authorities declined to identify, was remanded in custody after his case was heard at Melbourne Magistrates Court on Sunday and no application was made for bail, the Australian Broadcasting Corp reported.
Authorities are investigating whether the synagogue fire was linked to a disturbance on Friday night at an Israeli restaurant in Melbourne, in which one person was arrested for hindering police.
The restaurant was extensively damaged, according to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, an umbrella group for Australia’s Jews.
It said the fire at the synagogue, one of Melbourne’s oldest, was set as those inside sat down to Sabbath dinner.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog went on X to “condemn outright the vile arson attack targeting Jews in Melbourne’s historic and oldest synagogue on the Sabbath, and on an Israeli restaurant where people had come to enjoy a meal together”.
“This is not the first such attack in Australia in recent months. But it must be the last,” Herzog said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the incidents as “severe hate crimes” that he viewed “with utmost gravity.” “The State of Israel will continue to stand alongside the Australian Jewish community,” Netanyahu said on X.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese late on Saturday described the alleged arson, which comes seven months after another synagogue in Melbourne was targeted by arsonists, as shocking and said those responsible should face the law’s full force.
“My Government will provide all necessary support toward this effort,” Albanese posted on X.
Homes, schools, synagogues and vehicles in Australia have been targeted by antisemitic vandalism and arson. The incidents included a fake plan by organized crime to attack a Sydney synagogue using a caravan of explosives in order to divert police resources, police said in March.
The post Australia Police Charge Man Over Alleged Arson on Melbourne Synagogue first appeared on Algemeiner.com.