RSS
Half of French People Adhere to Over 6 Antisemitic Prejudices, 12% Happy to See Jews Leave Country: Survey
Sign reading “+1000% of Antisemitic Acts: These Are Not Just Numbers” during a march against antisemitism, in Lyon, France, June 25, 2024. Photo: Romain Costaseca / Hans Lucas via Reuters Connect
Hostility toward the Jewish people has surged to alarming levels in France, where half the population adhere to more than six antisemitic prejudices and nearly one in five young people want to see the departure of Jews from the country, according to a new survey.
Ipsos, a market research and consulting firm, conducted the survey of the French public for the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF), the main representative body of French Jews, to examine the country’s attitudes toward the Jewish community amid a surge in antisemitic hate crimes over the past year.
The findings, unveiled by CRIF on Thursday and first reported by the French news magazine Le Point, revealed a surge in antisemitic attitudes across France.
Among France’s general population, 12 percent of people are happy to see Jews leave the country, up from just 6 percent in 2020, according to the survey.
“It’s a terrifying figure,” CRIF president Yonathan Arfi told the radio station Europe 1 when asked about the finding.
The number goes up among people under the age of 35, of whom a striking 17 percent think that the departure of Jews from France would be good for the country.
“It is contrary to the historical trend,” Arfi told Le Point. “Young people are more receptive to antisemitic, Islamist, and conspiracy theories, which are invading social networks.”
As for people aged 18 to 24, only 53 percent think that the majority of Jews are well integrated into the population, compared to 84 percent of French people more broadly, the survey found.
Overall, nearly half (46 percent) of French people today adhere to more than six anti-Jewish prejudices, compared to 37 percent in 2020, according to the results. Meanwhile, almost a quarter of those surveyed think that Jews are not really French like the rest of their countrymen, an uptick of more than six points.
The numbers increase among backers of France’s main far-left and far-right political parties. Indeed, the survey found that 52 percent of those who support the far-right Rassemblement National (RN — “National Rally”) and 55 percent of those who support the far-left La France Insoumise (LFI — “France Unbowed”) adhere to at least six antisemitic stereotypes. And a third of LFI supporters indicated they adhere to at least nine such prejudices.
LFI is the largest member of the New Popular Front (NFP), an anti-Israel leftist coalition of political parties that came to power in France’s snap parliamentary elections in July. The coalition gained the most seats of any political bloc but not enough for a majority. Its leader, Jean-Luc Melenchon, has been lambasted by French Jews as a threat to their community as well as those who support Israel.
“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 in July’s elections. “We fear for the future of our children.”
According to the survey, 20 percent of LFI supporters consider the departure of Jews from France desirable, compared to 15 percent of those who back RN.
Similarly troubling, the results showed that 25 percent of LFI supporters have “sympathy” for Hamas, and 40 percent refuse to label the Palestinian Islamist group as a terrorist organization.
Hamas, which has been designated internationally as a terrorist group, launched the war in Gaza with its invasion of southern Israel last Oct. 7. During the onslaught, Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists murdered 1,200 people, mostly civilians, wounded thousands more, and kidnapped 251 hostages while perpetrating rampant sexual violence, including torture and gang rape.
The survey noted that one in two French people now suspect their Jewish fellow citizens of “double allegiance” to Israel — a reality that Arfi blamed in part on LFI’s fierce anti-Israel opposition.
“LFI has given antisemitism a political endorsement,” he told Le Point. “We observe this toxic porosity between criticism of Israel and the ostracization of French Jews. The Palestinian cause becomes a license to hate.”
The findings also showed that, among the French people surveyed, 64 percent believe that Jews have reason to be afraid of living in France, and 70 percent believe that the country has experienced an increase in antisemitism.
The survey results came as France has experienced a record surge of antisemitism in the wake of Hamas’s atrocities last Oct. 7, 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.
This year, anti-Jewish hate crimes and demonstrations in France have continued to skyrocket.
Earlier this month, for example, a monument honoring victims of the Nazis located in eastern France was vandalized with graffiti reading “Nique Israël,” or “F—k Israel” in English.
Last month, a man wearing a sports jersey with the words “Anti-Jew” written in French was photographed riding the Paris metro, prompting an investigation by law enforcement and outcry from Jewish leaders who lamented what they described as public indifference to surging antisemitism in France.
Days earlier, a visibly Jewish teenager was assaulted by two youths as he was leaving a metro station in the northwest suburbs of Paris.
That incident followed three men brutally attacking a Jewish woman at the entrance to her home in Paris on the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s Oct. 7 atrocities. The victim stated that the assailants threatened her with a box knife, made antisemitic threats, and mentioned the events of last Oct. 7.
In September, a kosher restaurant in Villeurbanne, near the eastern city of Lyon, was defaced with red paint and tagged with the message “Free Gaza.”
The incident came days 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.
Two months earlier, 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.”
Such incidents are part of an explosion of antisemitic outrages across France that has continued since last Oct. 7.
In August, then-French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin warned that incidents targeting the country’s Jewish community spiked by about 200 percent since Jan. 1.
“Two-thirds of anti-religious acts … are against Jews,” he added, according to French broadcaster BFM TV.
Darmanin’s comments followed him stating weeks earlier 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.
Despite widespread concern among French Jews, senior officials including Macron have repeatedly said they are committing to combating antisemitism and supporting the country’s Jewish community.
According to Arfi, a whole-of-government response is needed to combat the surge in antisemitism, which he largely attributed to people spreading misleading information about the Israel-Hamas war and blaming Jews worldwide for false allegations leveled against Israel.
“The hysteria of the debate on Gaza has blown the last barriers,” Arfi observed, adding that elected officials are making the Palestinian cause “an electoral business” and using it for “criminal instrumentalization.”
“We need a systemic response,” he concluded.
The post Half of French People Adhere to Over 6 Antisemitic Prejudices, 12% Happy to See Jews Leave Country: Survey first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Iran Says Oct. 7 Massacre ‘Revived Palestinian Cause,’ Vows ‘Unwavering’ Support Until ‘Complete Liberation’
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi looks on before a meeting with Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, in Tehran, Iran, Aug. 26, 2024. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in a new interview applauded the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, arguing that the massacre “revived the Palestinian cause,” according to Iran’s official news agency.
The Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported that Araghchi gave an interview to the Qatar-based news network Al Jazeera, parts of which were aired on Friday, in which Iran’s top diplomat “praised” the Oct. 7 onslaught. During the rampage, Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists murdered 1,200 people, wounded thousands more, and kidnapped 251 hostages to Gaza while perpetrating widespread sexual violence in the deadliest single day for Jews since the Holocaust.
Iran is the chief international backer of Hamas, providing the terrorist group with weapons, funding, and training. According to media reports based on documents seized by the Israeli military in Gaza last year, Iran had been informed about Hamas’s plan to launch the attack months in advance.
Parts of the Al Jazeera interview aired one day after Araghchi pledged Iran’s “unwavering” support to the “Palestinian resistance” while meeting with Hamas leaders in Qatar.
Araghchi “reaffirmed the Islamic Republic of Iran’s unwavering and principled policy of supporting the Palestinian resistance until the full realization of Palestinian rights, including their right to self-determination and the complete liberation of Palestine from [Israeli] occupation,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry said in a statement describing his visit to Doha.
During his meeting with senior Hamas leaders, Araghchi discussed the reconstruction of Gaza. The talks were attended by prominent figures, including Mohammed Darwish, leader of Hamas’s Shura Advisory Council; Khalil al-Hayya, the terrorist group’s chief negotiator; and other members of the council and political bureau of the militant Islamist movement.
Darwish reportedly described the Oct. 7 attack on Israel as a “turning point” in the Palestinian people’s fight against the Jewish state.
Araghchi also congratulated Hamas on the ceasefire it reached with Israel earlier this month to halt fighting in Gaza that was brokered by Egypt, Qatar, and the US.
“The heroic resistance of the people of Gaza proved the lie of the invincibility of the Israeli army to the whole world,” he said.
Thursday’s meeting coincided with Hamas releasing three Israeli and five Thai hostages after 482 days in captivity in exchange for 110 Palestinian prisoners.
During the first 42 days of the ceasefire agreement, Hamas is supposed to release 33 of the remaining hostages kidnapped during the Oct. 7 onslaught in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, where they have largely been imprisoned for involvement in terrorist activities.
Before siting down with Hamas leaders, Araghchi met with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Jassim Al Thani to discuss the ongoing developments in Gaza and Syria, where a new government is taking shape following the collapse of the regime of Bashar al-Assad, a long-time ally of Iran.
Araghchi stressed Iran’s strong and positive relationship with Qatar, reiterating his country’s commitment to expanding ties in various fields.
The post Iran Says Oct. 7 Massacre ‘Revived Palestinian Cause,’ Vows ‘Unwavering’ Support Until ‘Complete Liberation’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
‘Deplorable’: Anti-Zionist Activists Pour Concrete Into Toilets at Columbia University
A student protester parades a Palestinian flag outside the entrance to Hamilton Hall on the campus of Columbia University, in New York, US, April 30, 2024. Photo: Mary Altaffer/Pool via REUTERS
Columbia University was a victim of infrastructural sabotage on Wednesday when an extremist anti-Zionist group flooded the toilets of an academic building with concrete to mark the anniversary of an alleged killing of a Palestinian child.
“Restroom facilities at the School of International and Public Affairs were vandalized with graffiti that included disturbing, personal attacks,” the university said in a statement issued after the attack. “Acts of vandalism of university buildings and property and attempts to harass and intimidate members of our community are unacceptable and abhorrent and will not be tolerated at Columbia.”
Stating that an investigation to identify the culprits — widely believed to be members of the anti-Israel group Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) — has been launched, the university continued, “Our buildings and our classrooms are spaces for teaching and learning and we cannot permit them to be disrupted and defaced. We are acting swiftly to address this misconduct and will update the community as we have more information.”
The targeted bathrooms are located on several floors of the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), according to Keren Yarhi-Milo, dean of the school, who addressed the matter. She called the behavior “deplorable, disruptive, and deeply unsettling, as our campus is a space we cherish for learning teaching, and working, and it will not be tolerated.”
Numerous reports indicate the attack may be the premeditated result of planning sessions which took place many months ago at an event held by Alpha Delta Phi (ADP) — a literary society, according to the Washington Free Beacon. During the event, the Free Beacon reported, ADP distributed literature dedicated to “aspiring revolutionaries” who wish to commit seditious and subversive acts. Additionally, a presentation was given in which complete instructions for the exact kind of attack which struck Columbia on Wednesday were shared with students.
Columbia University told the Free Beacon that it has notified law enforcement of the event, saying, “We immediately launched an investigation which is ongoing.”
CUAD has proven to be one of the most disruptive pro-Hamas student groups in the country since last academic year, when Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel set off an explosion of anti-Zionist activity.
In April, its members commandeered a section of campus and, after declaring it a “liberated zone,” lit flares and chanted pro-Hamas and anti-American slogans, according to reports. When the New York City Police Department (NYPD) arrived to disperse the unauthorized gathering, hundreds of students reportedly amassed around them to prevent the restoration of order.
“Yes, we’re all Hamas, pig!” one protester was filmed screaming during the fracas, which saw some verbal skirmishes between pro-Zionist and anti-Zionist partisans. “Long live Hamas!” said others who filmed themselves dancing and praising the al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas terrorist organization. “Kill another soldier!” they also shouted.
In September, during the university’s convocation ceremony, CUAD distributed literature calling on students to join the Palestinian terrorist group’s movement to destroy Israel.
“This booklet is part of a coordinated and intentional effort to uphold the principles of the thawabit and the Palestinian resistance movement overall by transmitting the words of the resistance directly,” said a pamphlet distributed by CUAD, a Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) spinoff, to incoming freshmen. “This material aims to build popular support for the Palestinian war of national liberation, a war which is waged through armed struggle.”
Other sections of the pamphlet were explicitly Islamist, invoking the name of “Allah, the most gracious” and referring to Hamas as the “Islamic Resistance Movement.” Proclaiming, “Glory to Gaza that gave hope to the oppressed, that humiliated the ‘invincible’ Zionist army,” it said its purpose was to build an army of Muslims worldwide.
After almost two years of being accused of cravenly ignoring unlawful and discriminatory behavior, Columbia University has recently made steps towards holding lawbreakers accountable. Earlier this month, it banned from its campus multiple, and suspended another, masked individuals who disrupted an active class last week and proceeded to utter pro-Hamas statements while distributing antisemitic literature.
The agitators had stormed into Professor Avi Shilon’s course, titled “History of Modern Israel,” on the first day of classes of the new semester last Tuesday. Clad in keffiyehs, which were wrapped on their faces to conceal their identities, they read prepared remarks which described the course as “Zionist and imperialist” and a “normalization of genocide.”As part of their performance, which they appeared to film, they dropped flyers, one of which contained an illustration of a lifted boot preparing to trample a Star of David. Next to the drawing was a message that said, “Crush Zionism.”
Columbia University’s handling of campus antisemitism and political extremism will continue to be scrutinized, as it is now legally bound, via civil settlement, to protect the civil rights of Jewish students. In June 2024, it settled a lawsuit in which it was accused by a student of neglecting its obligation to foster a safe learning environment amid riotous pro-Hamas protests that were held at the school throughout the final weeks of the academic year.
The resolution of the case called for Columbia to hire a “Safe Passage Liaison” who will monitor protests and “walking escorts” who will accompany students whose safety is threatened around the campus. Other details of the settlement include “accommodations” for students whose academic lives are disrupted by protests and new security policies for controlling access to school property.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post ‘Deplorable’: Anti-Zionist Activists Pour Concrete Into Toilets at Columbia University first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
UFC Head Dana White, Israeli Fighter Natan Levy Respond to Fighter Calling Hitler ‘Good Guy,’ Jews ‘Greedy’
Natan Levy steps on the scale for the official weigh-in at the UFC Apex for UFC Fight Night – Font vs Vera on April 29, 2022 in LAS VEGAS, United States. Photo: Sports Press Photo via Reuters Connect
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White and Israeli UFC fighter Natan Levy slammed American featherweight Bryce Mitchell for “dumb” and “disgusting” comments he made this week, which included praising Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and denying the Holocaust ever happened.
“I’ve heard a lot of dumb, ignorant s—t in my day, but this one’s probably the worst,” White said during a press conference. “Hitler is one of the most disgusting and evil human beings to ever walk the face of the earth, and anyone who even tries to take an opposing position is a moron. That’s the problem with the internet and social media — you provide a platform for a lot of dumb, ignorant people.” He added that the UFC reached out to Mitchell regarding his comments and said the company is “beyond disgusted.”
Mitchell made a series of antisemitic and shocking comments during the first episode of his new podcast “ArkanSanity,” which he co-hosts with fellow Arkansas native Roli Delgado. The two were discussing Elon Musk’s speech at Capital One Arena after US President Donald Trump’s inauguration earlier this month, and how Musk stretched his hand out to salute in a pose that many observers said was reminiscent of the Nazi salute.
“I honestly think that Hitler was a good guy based upon my own research, not my public education indoctrination,” Mitchell then said during the podcast episode, which aired on Saturday. “I really do think, before Hitler got on meth, he was a guy to go fishing with. He fought for his country. He wanted to purify it by kicking out the greedy Jews out that were destroying his country … when he got on meth and turned on Russia, I believe that’s when he [Hitler] got full nutty.”
“W[as] Hitler perfect? No. But he was fighting for his people and he wanted a pure nation,” he added. “These Jews were controlling his country … and now that [Hitler] lost the war, he’s the bad guy.” Mitchell then went on to state, “I’m not a Nazi, I don’t love Nazis, I’m just saying they were in a bad spot and Hitler come to power.”
Levy responded to Mitchell’s comments in a series of posts on X/Twitter on Thursday. “Crazy how a guy blessed by God with so much success and opportunity chooses to pay it forward by spreading hate and division every time he gets a mic,” Levy wrote in one post. “Anyway, next time you see me, you’re welcome to have a real conversation and actually learn about Judaism our history and culture, firsthand. Or, if you’d rather, you can call me a greedy Jew to my face, and we’ll see what’s up.”
He additionally offered to take his UFC rival to a Holocaust museum, to educate him about World War II, or even on a trip to Israel. Levy said he wants Mitchell to learn that “[Israel is] a beautiful land with people just like him, we don’t have horns, we don’t all conspire to take over the world, we just trying to live our lives and enjoy the sun.”
“I’ll make it simple for everyone, Keep my people’s name out your f—king mouth,” he added in another post on X. Levy said that for those defending Mitchell’s freedom of speech, his response was: “Yeah! every idiot is free to speak and I am free to tell them to shut the f—k up.”
During the podcast episode on Saturday, Delgado argued that Hitler was wrong for persecuting Jews, such as forcing them into Nazi concentration camps. In his response, Mitchell denied the Holocaust. “That’s what your public education will tell you, Roli. Because you believe your public education. Because you haven’t done your own research,” Mitchell insisted. “When you realize there is no possible way they could have burned and cremated six million bodies, you’re gonna realize the Holocaust ain’t real.”
“History is HIS-story. History is written by the victor. Hitler lost so you didn’t get to hear his side of the war, you didn’t get to hear how the Jews took his country over,” he suggested. “Do I believe that he tortured Jews to death and killed them and all this stuff for fun? No. I believe they were work camps and they starved to death because [Hitler’s] very army were starving to death … I don’t believe he’s that bad of a guy … Hitler — he was for freedom. Hitler just wanted to free his people. But we can’t talk about the Holocaust like it was a real thing because I don’t believe it. I don’t believe the bulls—t that they try to tell you at the public school.”
The post UFC Head Dana White, Israeli Fighter Natan Levy Respond to Fighter Calling Hitler ‘Good Guy,’ Jews ‘Greedy’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.