There has been a “very significant increase” in antisemitic acts in France this year, according to outgoing French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, who on Sunday warned incidents targeting the country’s Jewish community spiked by about 200 percent since Jan. 1.

Darmanin revealed the troubling surge in antisemitism one day after French police arrested a 33-year-old Algerian man suspected of trying to set a synagogue ablaze in the southern French city of la Grande-Motte.

The attacker had set fire to several entry doors to the synagogue and cars nearby. One of the cars contained a gas canister that exploded, injuring a policeman who was securing the site. The rabbi and his family were inside the synagogue at the time of the attack but were unharmed.

“Deliberately setting fire to a synagogue where the rabbi and his family live while waiting with an axe … is an antisemitic act, and it must be denounced as such,” Darmanin said of the incident on French television, according to Euronews.

On Sunday, Darmanin continued to denounce what he described as a “vile antisemitic act” and the increase in anti-Jewish crimes across France more broadly.

“Two-thirds of anti-religious acts … are against Jews,” the interior minister added, according to French broadcaster BFM TV.

Darmanin’s comments came after he stated earlier this month that antisemitic acts in France have tripled over the last year. In the first half of 2024, 887 such incidents were recorded, almost triple the 304 recorded in the same period last year, he said.

France has experienced a record surge of antisemitism in the wake of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, amid the ensuing war in Gaza. 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.

Amid the wave of attacks, France held snap parliamentary elections last month which brought an anti-Israel leftist coalition to power, leading French Jews to express deep apprehension about their future status in the country.

“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 New Popular Front, a coalition of far-left parties. “We fear for the future of our children.”

The largest member of the NFP is the far-left La France Insoumise (“France Unbowed”) party, whose leader, Jean-Luc Melenchon, has been lambasted by French Jews as a threat to their community as well as those who support Israel. Melenchon has a long history of pushing anti-Israel policies and, according to Jewish leaders, of making antisemitic comments — such as suggesting that Jews killed Jesus, echoing a false claim that was used to justify antisemitic violence and discrimination throughout the Middle Ages in Europe.

Darmanin appeared to call out the hard left for fostering a hostile environment for Jews during his remarks on Sunday.

“There is hateful political speech against the Jews of France and it must be denounced,” he said, according to France Info. We can clearly see that part of the left, unfortunately, is making this speech of encouragement of hatred toward our Jewish compatriots.”

Shortly after the NFP’s victory, Melenchon — who in a 2017 speech referred to the French Jewish community as “an arrogant minority that lectures to the rest” — called for France to recognize a Palestinian state. 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.

Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF), lambasted Melenchon for denouncing an “intolerable crime” without mentioning antisemitism while condemning Saturday’s attack on the synagogue.

“I do not believe in the sincerity of Jean-Luc Melenchon when he condemns this antisemitic act,” Arfi told the French broadcaster RMC on Monday, referring to the far-left leader as a “firefighter-arsonist” who incites hatred against Jews.

In the wake of the Hamas atrocities of 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.”

Arfi referred to the synagogue attack over the weekend as a “symbol of the antisemitism which has struck French society” since October.

“It must be seen as such, as a tragic illustration of the new face that antisemitism has taken on in recent months,” he added. “It misappropriates the Palestinian cause to designate Jews as legitimate targets. French Jews are today attacked in the name of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in the name of Gaza, by guilty shortcuts but also by a certain number of actors who fan this fire, in particular the political leaders of La France Insoumise who have contributed to the fact that today, these issues are inflammable. This unfortunately results in the fact that Jews are attacked.”

Arfi and Darmanin’s comments came about a month after 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 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, French President Emmanuel Macron denounced the “scourge of antisemitism” plaguing his country.

Around the same time in June, an Israeli family visiting Paris was denied service at a hotel after an attendant noticed their Israeli passports.

In May, French police shot dead a knife-wielding Algerian man who set fire to a synagogue and threatened law enforcement in the city of Rouen.

One month earlier, a Jewish woman was beaten and raped in a suburb of Paris as “vengeance for Palestine.”

The post Antisemitic Incidents in France Up 200% This Year, Interior Minister Warns After Attempted Synagogue Arson first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Anti-Israel students at Cornell University vandalized an administrative building on Monday, a provocation which marks an early test of the resolve of the interim president who announced new policies on “institutional neutrality,” discipline, and encampments around the time of incident.

According to the Cornell Daily Sun, the anti-Zionist agitators graffitied “Israel Bombs, Cornell pays” and “Blood is on your hands” on Day Hall. They also shattered the glazings of its front doors.

“We had to accept that the only way to make ourselves heard is by targeting the only thing the university administration really cares about: property,” the students told the paper. “With the start of this new academic year, the Cornell administration is trying desperately to upkeep a facade of normalcy knowing that, since last semester, they have been working tirelessly to uphold Cornell’s function as a fascist, classist, imperial machine.”

The students also took aim at interim president Michael Kotlikoff, who assumed office following the resignation of Martha Pollack earlier this summer. Accusing him of duplicity in managing a strike of the university’s employees, they supplied additional reasons for their actions.

“[He] has been antagonizing workers that keep this university running by engaging in bad-faith negotiations with the union and deploying scab workers — even himself — to undermine the solidarity of workers and power of the ongoing strike,” they explained.

The vandalism of Day Hall concurred with Kotlikoff’s issuing a lengthy statement which described how the university will respond to potentially disruptive protests, a problem which prematurely ended the tenures of four Ivy League presidents last academic year, including his predecessor. In it, Kotlikoff stressed his belief in upholding the “expressive activities of individuals” while maintaining that “they are bounded by the need to protect the core functions of the university and the reciprocal rights of others.” Adding that the university will permit encampments of the kind which emerged across the country in May, he concluded by outlining a no-tolerance approach to disciplinary infractions.

“Acts of violence, extended occupations of buildings, or destruction of property (including graffiti), will not be tolerated and will be subject to immediate public safety response,” he said. “We will enforce these policies consistently, for every group or activity, on any issue or subject …We urge all members of the community to express their views in a manner that respects the rights of others. One voice may never stifle another. There is a time, place, and manner for all to speak and all to be heard.”

It is not clear that Kotlikoff’s statement was prompted by the incident on Monday morning, but its concurrence with destruction of school property carried out in the name of anti-Zionism has nonetheless initiated an early appraisal of his style of governance and the measures he is prepared to enact to preserve order. Identifying and punishing the culprits could set off protests which disrupt the campus or cause a collision with the Cornell Daily Sun, which has agreed not to reveal their identities. Letting the incident slide may invite the scrutiny of the US Congress, which only last week asked the university to share its plans for deterring and responding to lawbreaking and antisemitic discrimination. As of this publication, he has not signaled which course of action he plans to take.

Anti-Zionists convulsed Cornell University’s campus last year, engaging in activities that are without precedent in the school’s 159-year history. In October, three weeks after Hamas’ massacre across southern Israel, now-former student Patrick Dai threatened to perpetrate heinous crimes against members of the school’s Jewish community, including mass murder and rape. Cornell students also occupied a campus building and held a “mock trial” in which they convicted Pollack of complicity in “apartheid” and “genocide against Palestinian civilians.” Meanwhile, history professor Russell Rickford called Hamas’ barbarity on Oct. 7 “exhilarating” and “energizing” at a pro-Palestinian rally held on campus.

By the end of the year, Pollack announced her resignation, which followed the installment of an illegal “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” on the campus where pro-Hamas students had lived and protested the university’s investments in companies linked to Israel. During that time, she oversaw at least four full and temporary suspensions of the protesters and issued ultimatums to those who refuse to leave.

“Continued delay is not in the university’s best interests, both because of the need to have sufficient time for a smooth transition before the start of the academic year, and because I do not want my announcement to interfere with the celebration of our newest graduates at commencement in just a few weeks,” she said in announcing her decision to resign. “I understand that there will be lots of speculation about my decision, so let me be as clear as I can: this decision is mine and mine alone. After seven fruitful and gratifying years as Cornell’s president — and after a career in research and academia spanning five decades — I’m ready for a new chapter in my life.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

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A Gaza-based news outlet established by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) deleted an article that praised Gaza journalist Bisan Owda amid controversy about her receiving an Emmy nomination because of her connection to the US-designated terrorist organization.

The Arabic-language publication Al-Hadaf, which serves as the mouthpiece for the PFLP, deleted an article titled “Journalism in the Crosshairs of Politics… how Bisan Owda became a symbol of resistance journalism” that was published on Thursday, according to The Jerusalem Post. The move came after more than 150 members of the entertainment industry called on the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) last week to rescind Owda’s Emmy nomination due to her support for the PFLP.

The Gaza-based Palestinian journalist and filmmaker was nominated for her documentary series “It’s Bisan From Gaza and I’m Still Alive” in the 2024 Emmy Awards for News & Documentary in the category of outstanding hard news feature story: short form. In the docuseries, Owda reports from Gaza and documents the daily life of Palestinians during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

The docuseries was a collaboration with the digital media outlet AJ+ which is based in the US and is a subsidiary of the Qatari-owned media outlet Al Jazeera. In 2020, the US Department of Justice ordered AJ+ to register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). The Justice Department declared that the outlet, which is backed by the royal family of Qatar, engages in “political activities” on behalf of Qatar’s government and is “designed to influence American perceptions of a domestic policy issue or a foreign nation’s activities or its leadership.” However, the outlet has refused to follow the department’s orders.

Owda’s longstanding ties to PFLP – which is designated as a terrorist organization in US, Israel, European Union and Canada — was exposed shortly after her Emmy nomination was announced in mid-July. She attended and spoke at PFLP rallies, hosted events honoring Palestinians fighting Israeli soldiers, and the PFLP referred to her in 2018 as a member of its Progressive Youth Union. She also regularly makes anti-Zionist comments on social media while reporting from Gaza about the Israel-Hamas war.

More than 150 entertainment industry figures said in an open letter to NATAS that Owda’s Emmy nomination is in violation of the Academy’s code of ethical conduct, and is also “deeply troubling, given the creator’s history of promoting dangerous falsehoods, spreading antisemitism, and condoning violence.” The letter was spearheaded by the nonprofit organization Creative Community for Peace.

In response to the open letter, NATAS President and CEO Adam Sharp sent a letter to CCFP President Ari Ingel defending Owda’s nomination.

“NATAS is aware of reports, cited in your letter and initially surfaced by a communications consultant in the region, that appear to show a then-teenaged Bisan Owda speaking at various PFLP-associated events between six and nine years ago. NATAS has been unable to corroborate these reports, nor has it been able, to date, to surface any evidence of more contemporary or active involvement by Owda with the PFLP organization,” Sharp wrote.

He explained that Owda’s docuseries “was reviewed by two successive panels of independent judges, including senior editorial leadership from each significant US broadcast news network.” The panels concluded that “It’s Bisan From Gaza and I’m Still Alive” was “consistent with competition rules and NATAS policies.”

“Accordingly, NATAS has found no grounds, to date, upon which to overturn the editorial judgment of the independent journalists who reviewed the material,” he added. Sharp also told Ingel that some Emmy nominations “have been controversial, giving a platform to voices that certain viewers may find objectionable or even abhorrent. But all have been in the service of the journalistic mission to capture every facet of the story.”

The post Terror Group’s News Outlet Deletes Article About PFLP-Tied Journalist Criticized for Emmy Nomination first appeared on Algemeiner.com.