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Holocaust survivor found stabbed to death in burning apartment in what appears to be antisemitic murder

An 85-year-old Jewish Holocaust survivor has been found dead in her apartment in Paris, having been stabbed 11 times and her apartment having been set ablaze.

The attack took place in her apartment in  Avenue Philippe Auguste.

National Bureau for Vigilance Against Antisemitism have confirmed that suicide has been ruled out and that a suspect is being questioned in relation to what is almost certainly an antisemitic attack.

An attack of this nature is yet another escalation in what is becoming an intolerable situation for Jews in the French capital. That such a fate could befall a Holocaust survivor in twenty-first century Europe is an indictment of contemporary French society, where antisemitism has become an accepted part of life for the Jews who have decided to remain in the country.  If what is suspected about the motives of this attack are confirmed, it will verify what many have known for some time now; France has become inhospitable to Jewish life.

Last year, Jewish pensioner Sarah Halimi was beaten by her Islamist neighbour and thrown off the balcony in her own home to her death three stories below. The authorities had initially refused to label the attack antisemitic, despite reports that she had been subject to verbal antisemitic abuse by her assailant prior to the incident. The matter is awaiting trial and will be prosecuted as a hate crime.

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Paris: 14-year-old Jewish boy beaten by gang who stole his kippah after leaving Synagogue on Purim

In yet another violent antisemitic incident in the French capital, a 14-year-old Jewish boy has been subjected to a harrowing antisemitic attack in Paris.

The victim was leaving his Synagogue on Purim, a holiday during which Jews celebrate the events depicted in Megillat Esther, in which Jews in the Persian empire survived an attempt to exterminate them.

The victim has said he was surrounded by a group of youths who beat him, including hitting him with a tree branch, breaking his glasses, before stealing his Kippah and running off. They reportedly shouted antisemitic insults as they carried out the attack.

Four youths have been detained by the police, who have confirmed that they believe the attack to be antisemitic in nature.

To read about some recent antisemitic incidents in France, click here,

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Suspected antisemitic acid attack on Jewish baby in France

The 14-month-old daughter of a Rabbi in Lyon was rushed to hospital after acid was left in her pram.

The incident occurred on Monday. The baby was taken into hospital after her grandmother noticed burns on her body. She has suffered burns on her back and thighs, but is not thought to be in any danger.

The acid is thought to have been placed in the pram when it was left in a communal part of the grandmother’s apartment block. The acid appears to have been left in the inside of the pram whilst it was empty.

The police are considering the possibility that this was an antisemitic attack. A police spokesman said: “we take this case very seriously. But, for now, it is still unclear whether this case is an act of antisemitism, a neighborhood quarrel or gratuitous damage committed by thugs”.

The Rabbi alerted the police, who have taken the pram in as evidence.

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8-year-old Jewish boy attacked near Paris

An 8-year-old Jewish boy was attacked in the Paris suburb of Sarcelles yesterday, in what President Macron has decried as an antisemitic attack.

Two assailants, who according to the victim were around 15 years of age, attacked the boy whenhe was on his way to after-school tutoring. The victim was wearing a kippah when he was attacked.

Local prosecutors have told the press that they are treating the crime as antisemitic.

President Macron wrote on his Twitter account “An 8-year-old boy was attacked today in Sarcelles. Because he was wearing a kippa. Every time a citizen is attacked because of his age, his appearance or his religion, the whole country is being attacked” before continuing “And it is the whole country that stands, especially today, alongside the French Jews to fight each of these despicable acts, with them and for them”.

Interior Minister Gerard Collomb described the attack as “cowardly aggression…contrary to our most fundamental values”.

Sarcelles is nicknamed “Little Jerusalem” for its high Jewish population, but antisemitic crimes targeting Jews and Jewish institutions in the area are disturbingly common.

Three weeks ago, a 10-year-old Jewish girl had her face slashed in Paris.

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15-year-old Jewish girl’s face slashed in antisemitic attack in Paris

A 15-year-old Jewish Parisian girl was attacked on 10 January during her school lunch break. The victim was wearing the uniform of her private Jewish school, Merkaz-Hatorah, when the assailant assaulted her with a knife. The victim sustained cuts to her face.

Whilst the victim was able to walk home, she arrived “bleeding and shocked”, her mother told Le Parisien. The assault came days after a suspected torching of two kosher shops near Paris, echoing the harrowing comments that the French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe had made in last month in December: “In our country, antisemitism is alive… it is well-rooted, and it is alive.”

Francois Pupponi, a lawmaker in the lower house of France’s parliament, denounced the assault, branding it “a heinous antisemitic attack.” The assailant ran away after the assault, and the victim was not able to see his face. In a statement produced on Friday, Pupponi commented, “I have no doubt the perpetrators of this attack had antisemitic motives.” He went on to explain that this is because, “In Sarcelles, everybody knows who is a practicing Jew according to the way they dress…when she is wearing clothes favoured by many women from the Jewish community, then there is no room for doubt.”

The assailant remains unidentified, and the police investigation is still ongoing.

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Suspected arson at Kosher supermarket in Paris on anniversary of antisemitic terror attack

A Kosher supermarket in Paris was hit by what police suspect to be an arson attack, three years to the day after a terrorist attack at a Kosher supermarket in which four were killed.

Promo & Destock store in Créteil suffered extensive damage to the shop front and interior in the fire.

Last week the store was reportedly vandalized with Swastika graffiti.

Whilst police say they do not have a motive for the attack, the preceding Swastika graffiti and the significance of the date on which the fire was started indicate a clear possibility that this is an antisemitic incident.

The area has a substantial Jewish population. Local community leader Albert Elharrar told the media “there’s a link between the graffiti and the fire. It’s clear that they came for no other reason but to attack a kosher shop on the day of the commemorations”.

 

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French tax system deliberately employs “extreme discrimination” against Jews, says expert

French tax expert and leading Advocate Itay Bracha has expressed his dismay over new French tax measures designed to subject French Jews, both those residing domestically and those emigrating to Israel, to a disproportionate level of scrutiny. Bracha has stated he knows of no similar regime anywhere else in the world.

The new department already employs 20 Hebrew-speaking staff and is in the process of hiring more.

Ostensibly US tax authorities have a similar department, but whilst the purpose of the US department is to regulate movements of capital between the US and Israel, the French department has been established with the primary aim of subjecting Jews to a greater level of scrutiny for tax offences than non-Jews.

Bracha described the department as constituting “extreme discrimination”, commenting:

“I know of no similar department to the one founded in France, and certainly not with that number of employees. There is a special department in the US because of the need for direct communication with the authorities in Israel, and taking into account the volume of trade between Israel and the US, but the main purpose is absolutely not to catch tax evaders.” Bracha added, “Such a department, which constitutes extreme discrimination against Jews in France, does violence to equality between different citizens. Establishing such a department is an unacceptable statement by the authorities in France, and puts the Jewish community in a very unflattering spotlight”.

A European nation subjecting Jews to extra legal scrutiny comes with worrying connotations, not only being eerily evocative of the centuries of legal persecution of Jews in Europe, but in that it seems to evoke antisemitic canards about Jews being conniving and miserly with money. The tacit expression of these sentiments is bad enough, but their writing into national tax policy in breach of the basic principles upon which western nations are founded is unconscionable. This comes at a time when French Jews are perpetually failed by their government by its impotence against rising antisemitism, which has been driving French Jews out of the country at an alarming rate. This visits upon French Jews the double indignity of being gradually pushed from their homes by escalating antisemitism whilst they are subjected to disproportionate scrutiny from their government.

 

 

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Jewish mother and son assaulted by Muslim women in France

A Jewish woman and her son who were shopping in a town near Toulouse, France, have allegedly been attacked by three Muslim women.

The incident occurred in Carcassonne, about 50km outside the city of Toulouse, and is being reported as an antisemitic incident.

One of the assailants allegedly saw the woman’s Star of David pendant and her and her two younger friends attacked the pair.

Eyewitnesses believe that the assailants, a veiled older woman and two younger women, could be a mother and her daughters.

 

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Paris Jewish family saved from “antisemitic” arson attack by loyal family dog

Members of a Paris Jewish family perhaps owe their lives to their vigilant dog, who saved them from an arson attack.

The family was awoken by barking in the night. When they investigated, they discovered that their front door had been set ablaze. They discovered their apartment rapidly filling with smoke.

Police say that someone had doused the door with a highly flammable liquid. The family have said they suspect a neighbour who has made antisemitic and extremist comments.

Last week the family had their car torched.

The National Bureau for Vigilance Against Antisemitism commented that “the incident confirms BNVCA’s observation that antisemitic acts that began as targeting property belonging to Jews (synagogues, schools, community centers) or as assaults on people on the street have evolved into attacks on Jews inside their own homes”.

If further investigation confirms that this attack did have an antisemitic motive, which given the current circumstances in Paris and the targeted nature of the attack would not be surprising, it will indeed represent yet another escalation in the French capital which looks increasingly dire for the country’s Jewish community.

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Sustained assault on 10 year old Jewish girl at her school: an indication of a wider malaise in French society?

At the beginning of October 2017, a ten year old Jewish girl was verbally abused and beaten up so badly by her classmates, for several days in a row, because she was Jewish, that she sustained injuries to her ribs and abdomen and had to be hospitalised.

The girl is French and attended a school in the 18th arrondissement in Paris, where most of her classmates were Muslim.

The girl’s mother, who wished to remain anonymous, said, One of the schoolboys, named Ishmael, beat her after saying ‘I do not love you because you are Jewish.’ The boy also told her: not to pronounce his name Ishmael, for it is the name of a prophet.”

The mother reported the incident to France’s antisemitism watchdog, the National Bureau for Vigilance Against Antisemitism (BNVCA). Paris’s Local Education Authority confirmed to the BNVCA that they would take the incident seriously, and would transfer the girl to a school of her choice.

According to an account on 6th October 2017 by Christians United for Israel (CUFI), the child’s mother added that the family had suffered a psychological shock and needed help. She said that her daughter had nightmares and was constantly afraid of being assaulted.

The CUFI article sets out what looks to be a pattern for the persecution of Jews in France:

  • An increasing number of Jewish families are moving their children from public (state) schools because of growing antisemitism from Muslims in state schools

  • In 1970 only 7,000 French children attended Jewish schools. Today, there are 35,000 Jewish children in Jewish schools in France. In addition, 35,000 Jewish children attend private Christian schools

We also learn that 40,000 French Jews have emigrated to Israel since 2006, and the exodus peaked after the attacks on Charlie Ebdo and Hyper Cacher supermarket. Approximately 10% to 35% had returned to France subsequently but it is believed that the attacks on French Jews since 2006 had acted as a catalyst.

It is suggested that there are parallels between the plight of French Jews and Jews in the UK as regards authorities’ apparent inability, (and what looks to be unwillingness in certain cases in the UK), to act to the full extent to protect their Jewish citizens from attack and punish the perpetrators of such attacks to the full extent of the law. Campaign Against Antisemitism’s latest research has shown that attacks on Jews and Jewish establishments are increasing but prosecutions are falling, and where perpetrators are prosecuted, the sentences handed down are so lenient as almost to be laughable.

At a micro level, the French 10 year old has had to leave the school whose staff had so consummately failed to keep her safe. Just last week, Everyday Antisemitism reported on a mob attack on a group of Jews who were leaving their Synagogue, the latest in a long line of examples of serious antisemitic violence. At a macro level, Jewish emigration from France is increasing, ostensibly for the same reason. Somehow, hatred of Jews has become acceptable in France and the UK to the extent that those whom Jews rely on to keep them safe seem to be almost incapable of doing so, therefore Jews are leaving.

What lessons can be learned from these events before it is too late?

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Synagogue goers in Paris reportedly attacked by mob of Muslim youths

Several members of a Synagogue in  Garges-les-Gonesse, a Paris suburb, have reportedly been attacked by a mob of around 20 Muslim youths.

The mob apparently were shouting “screw the Jews” and “Allahu Akbar”, as well as various antisemitic slurs.

At least one was armed, with eyewitnesses claiming that one used tear gas.

Several attempted to climb the wall to gain entry to the Synagogue itself.

The attackers were reportedly aged around 15 and above. The four Jews who were attacked managed to alert the police who arrived quickly, but not before the assailants had scattered, leaving them badly shaken up. The attackers are yet to be apprehended or identified.

This is yet another shocking example of the escalating antisemitism in France. Several major incidents that we have covered can be viewed here. These include the allegedly antisemitic murder of a French Jew by her Muslim neighbour, a French champion of “co-existence” calling on Hitler to “kill the Jews”, and a Jewish man having his finger sawn off by antisemitic attackers. There are also many incidents of vandalism, including “hundreds” of tombstones in a Jewish cemetery being destroyed or damaged, attempted arson of Synagogues, and many incidents which go unreported.

 

 

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French Judge finally allows antisemitic motive onto charge sheet for brutal murder of Jewish woman

The Judge conducting the hearing into the murder of Sarah Halimi has finally accepted that antisemitic motives for the attack should be added to the charge sheet.

Halimi was allegedly thrown from her apartment in April by her neighbour, who had reportedly been heard calling her a “dirty Jew”. During the investigation into her death, French Jewish groups accused the authorities of having covered up the antisemitic nature of the attack, claiming that she was “butchered for the sole and only reason that she was Jewish”.

After extensive pressure from French Jewish groups, the Judge accepted that antisemitic motives should be added to the charge sheet yesterday.

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Jewish family beaten, tied up and robbed in their own house in antsemitic attack in Paris

Members of a prominent Parisian Jewish family were brutally beaten and held hostage in their own home on Thursday.

Three attackers allegedly broke into the house of Victor Pinto and his family, shouting “you are Jewish, you have money”.

Pinto is the President of the Siona group, which represents Sephardi Jews.

The attackers cut through the window bars of the house before cutting off the electricity in the house. They then tied up Pinto’s son and beat his wife.

Pinto was finally able to contact the police on Friday morning, whereupon the attackers fled.

The attackers are reportedly three black men in their 20s and 30s. They made off with jewellery, cash and credit cards.

The Pinto family were taken to hospital for treatment, but are unsurprisingly “extremely traumatised”.

The National Bureau for Vigilance against Anti-Semitism called the attack “manifestly antisemitic”, a characterisation with which we would have to agree. This is not a mere robbery “gone wrong” as such attacks are sometimes dubbed. Instead, the family were subjected to a prolonged and violent ordeal, and were clearly identified as Jewish beforehand. They were subjected to antisemitic abuse and reportedly “threatened with death” as they were “violently beaten”.

Whilst an incident as shocking as this can unfortunately happen anywhere, it is likely to serve only to deepen the feeling that Jews are becoming unwelcome in France, and in Paris in particular, with antisemitism spiralling out of control. We await the response of the police, particularly after French Jewish groups recently claimed the authorities “whitewashed” the antisemitic character of the murder of a Jewish woman.

 

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French ultra-Nationalist arrested for allegedly plotting to assassinate Macron wanted to kill “Blacks, Arabs, Jews and homosexuals”

Last week, an individual who described himself as a, “right-wing nationalist” was arrested on charges relating to an alleged planned assassination of President Emmanuel Macaron during the Bastille Day parade in Paris on July 14th.

The suspect was reported convicted in 2016 of inciting terrorism.

RMC, a French radio station reported that the individual who is a resident of Argenteuil, a small town near to Paris was charged with terrorist offences. The individual in question was traced based on inflammatory comments made on an online chat he had participated in. The man described himself as a ‘nationalist’, and a proponent of extreme right ideology now commonly described as the “alt-right”.

In RMC’s report, it is stated that the detainee had used the online chat room to express his desire to obtain an AK 47. He was reported to the authorities by other online users. When the police arrived to arrest him, he allegedly threatened them with a knife.

The radio station further reported that during his interrogation, the detainee admitted to wanting to kill, “Blacks, Arabs, Jews and homosexuals” in a shocking confession of blatant racism and anti-Semitism. Police sources confirmed the radio’s statement, affirming that “His plot was vague, but he made it clear that he wanted to attack minorities.” It is speculated that the individual was inspired by previous mass shootings, such as the Columbine High School massacre, a tragic event which took place in 1999.

Allegedly the detainee described himself as “mentally unstable”, although this has yet to be confirmed by a medical body.

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Youths arrested for desecrating “hundreds” of tombs in historic Jewish cemetery in France

Five youths were arrested in Alsacia for the desecration of hundreds of tombs in the Jewish cemetery of Sarre-Union, France.

The youths, understood to be between the ages of 15 and 17, allegedly destroyed or damaged 250 out of the 400 tombs found in the cemetery, many of which were constructed in the 18th century. In the majority of cases, the tombstones were knocked to the floor, several of which were broken in the process. Additionally, they wrecked a monument raised at the entrance of the cemetery, dedicated to the remembrance of those who lost their lives in the Holocaust.

Those who were arrested had no prior convictions, and the police took to investigating,
“what on earth was going through their minds” to commit such a crime.

The five youths allegedly carried out the antisemitic act during the week. However, it wasn’t until the weekend that the desecration of the cemetery was discovered. The group, even the younger members, face a possible sentence of six years in prison.

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French Jewish groups suggest that police “covered up” antisemitic motive of Sarah Halimi’s murder

An umbrella organisation of Jewish Communities in France has suggested that the Police “covered up” the antisemitic nature of Sarah Halini’s murder.

Halini was allegedly thrown to her death after having been beaten by her neighbour in April. Witnesses heard the alleged attacker shout “Allahu Ackbar” before she was killed, and Halini’s daughter claims that the man,  Kobili Traore, a 27-year-old neighbour, had called her a “dirty Jew” in the past.

A statement from the group asked “the murder of Sarah Halimi was 85 days ago already and the investigation is not advancing. Why this silence? Why this omerta?” – using a term used to refer to the protection of accomplices by the Mafia – “What is being hidden? Why this denial of anti-Semitism?”

The President of the group, Francis Kalifat, has previously commented that “there is evidence that this is a textbook case of an anti-Semitic murder but it is being covered up by an ‘omerta’ and this heinous crime has not been recognized for what it is”. He continued to say that Halini was “butchered for the sole and only reason that she was Jewish”. It is extremely worrying that the police has appeared unwilling to explore the possibility that this was an antisemitic attack, and has seemingly refused to engage openly with a very concerned Jewish community.

There is also growing concern that Halini’s death could have been prevented by the police, who arrived on the scene long before Halini was allegedly pushed to her death, yet refused to enter the building without a specialist team. There were, according to the family, “at least” thirty minutes when the police were present, Halini was being “tortured” by her attacker, and the police failed to act.

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Police interrupt man allegedly attempting to set French Synagogue ablaze

Police in Epinay Sur Seine, a suburb of Paris, have allegedly caught a man who was in the process of setting a Synagogue on fire.

The alleged attempted arson occurred on the 24th of June. The suspect had pushed several bins against the Synagogue and had lit them on fire, but was interrupted by the police.

The Synagogue and adjacent buildings were damaged by the flames, but not severely.

Representatives from the Jewish community have praised the Police for their swift action, but unfortunately this is just another example of the increasing antisemitism in France.

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Paris Jewish woman found dead after allegedly being thrown from her own balcony by Arab neighbour

Paris police have opened a murder investigation after a 66-year-old Charedi woman in Paris was found dead on the street on Monday night in the 11th arrondissement of Paris.

Lucy Halimi was allegedly thrown from the balcony of her third-story apartment following an argument with her neighbour, a 27-year-old Arab, who has since been arrested by police. He has apparently been transferred to psychiatric services. Witnesses apparently heard the suspect screaming that he was going to kill her shortly before her death.

Some news sources have claimed that the man was heard shouting “Allahu Ackbar”, but it is not known if these reports are reliable. If so, this incident looks like far more than an argument between neighbours that went wrong. However, the true motive is not currently known. However, given the increasingly troubling situation for Jews in France, it would be foolish not to consider antisemitism to be a genuine possibility.

Two French Jewish organisations released a joint statement saying that they “will do their best to shed light on this very sad event and to support the family. We will keep you informed”.

We wish Halimi’s family a long life and offer our most sincere condolences.

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French freemason beaten by hammer-wielding attacker shouting “Jew! Jew! Jew!”

Christophe Habas, a senior Freemason in France, was beaten by a woman in Paris as he walked to a metro station.

The woman allegedly shouted “Jew!” repeatedly as she beat him with a hammer, before fleeing.

Habas was fortunately not badly injured, but clearly an attack with a hammer could have led to serious injury, meaning that he had a lucky escape.

It isn’t known if Habas is Jewish, but Freemasons often feature in antisemitic conspiracy theories, and were also killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust. Antisemitic conspiracies from the far left, the far right and from Islamists often mention freemasons and Jews in the same breath.

Habas has apparently recently returned from a trip to Israel, which received media attention in France where there are over 50,000 freemasons.

Francis Kalifat, the president of the French Jewish group the CRIF remarked: “this assault reminds us that we need to fight with uncompromising firmness against antisemitic discourse, and all other forms of hate and exclusion”.

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French “coexistence” champion tweeted “bring on Hitler to kill the Jews”

Mehdi Meklat, a young French Arab who has become a darling of the left for his championing of coexistence between different ethnic groups, has been exposed as having authored several antisemitic, homophobic and extremist tweets.

Meklat allegedly tweeted “Bring on Hitler to kill the Jews” during a French awards ceremony.

He also wrote of the “troubling” “beauty” of Mohammed Merah, the killer of several Jewish schoolchildren in Toulouse and said “I miss Bin Laden”. There were a myriad of tweets which could be considered offensive, with some sources suggesting he made “thousands”.

He has also made homophobic tweets, tweeting ““Long live the fags, long live AIDS under President Francois Hollande”.

Meklat said that he was merely trying to “an experiment to test the borders of provocation”, pointing to the fact that some, but not all, of the tweets were made under a pseudonym. However, calling for “Hitler to kill the Jews” goes beyond the provocation; indeed, it is a man calling for the genocide of Jews in a country in which Jews are already increasingly plagued with antisemitism.

Despite these worrying comments, he had also spoken about how antisemitism is often disguised as anti-Zionism. These contradictory statements demonstrate a reality which France must deal with of established immigrant Communities which have had difficult integrating into mainstream French society, often carrying with them antisemitic attitudes, as evidenced by the shocking amounts of antisemitism in France. Sadly, one of the great success stories of these communities, who had been hailed as a champion of coexistence, is clearly not immune to such attitudes despite the prominent role he has taken in trying to improve race relations in France.

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Jewish man has his finger sawn off by antisemitic attackers in brutal attack on two brothers in Paris

The National Bureau for Vigilance Against Antisemitism in France has released a report which claims that two Jewish men were briefly abducted, beaten and one had his finger sawn off in Paris. The Bureau’s report is based on several police reports.

The alleged attack occurred in Bondy, a suburb in Paris.  The two men, who are brothers, and who are the sons of a local Jewish leader were forced off the road by the assailant whilst driving. They are both visibly Jewish as they wear kippot.

The assailants shouted various antisemitic slurs at them, which included “Dirty Jews, you’re going to die!”

The two brothers were forced out of their car and several men of “Middle Eastern appearance” emerged from a “hookah café”.

The men proceeded to severely beat the two brothers. One attacker then allegedly sawed off one of the Jewish men’s fingers.

Both brothers were hospitalised and were reportedly in a state of shock after the attack.

This story comes against a backdrop of increasing antisemitism in France. Last year we reported that a 13-year-old Jewish boy has his kippah turn off and was beaten by attackers shouting “dirty Jew” in Paris. In December, another Jew was beaten by attackers also shouting “dirty Jew”, also in Paris. In Strasbourg last year, an Orthodox Jew was beaten by attackers shouting “dirty Jew, we will kill you”, and in a separate incident a Chabad Rabbi in the city was stabbed by an assailant shouting “Allahu Ackbar”, with the attacker having previously committed a similar crime. There have also been high profile terrorist attacks against Jews in France, including the 2012 massacre at a Jewish school and a shooter killing 4 shoppers and injuring nine at a Kosher supermarket. Though Jewish communities are heavily guarded in France, and indeed elsewhere, nobody can have their safety guaranteed at all times, and several incidents have called into question the provision of security, not least the assignment of a police officer who has links to multiple antisemites to the protection of a Jewish communal leader.

The situation in France is fast becoming intolerable. It is impossible for a minority community to flourish under constant threat of serious physical harm, which is evidenced by the sheer number of French Jews fleeing the country, with many making Aliyah whilst others find refuge in London.  Over half of French Jews have expressed a desire to move to Israel and the country has been described as one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a Jew.

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“Filthy Jews”, swastikas spraypainted on Anne Frank School, France

Graffiti saying “filthy Jews” was spray painted onto the letterbox of a school in France.

The antisemitic vandals also wrote “Jews forbidden” in German and “Filthy Jewish and Romani people” in French.

The Anne Frank School is a Jewish school in Montreuil, a suburb of Paris.

The police collected evidence, and subsequently had the graffiti removed at the request of the Mayor. However, similar antisemitic graffiti has been found in the locality.

Juliette Timsit, who was formerly the Headteacher of the school, commented “this is the school that was targeted, particularly because of its name, Anne Frank. I was very proud to be a principal in this school. I love it…I am deeply affected by this and can barely hold back the tears”.

Whilst we report on a great deal of antisemitic graffiti, this incident is particularly shocking, both because it has targeted a Jewish school, but also because of the particularly nasty references to the Holocaust and Nazi Germany, coupled with the fact the school is named after Anne Frank.

 

 

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France: Jewish man beaten by attackers shouting “dirty Jew”

A 30 year-old Jewish man, who was walking home from work, was beaten by a group of men on a street in Creteil, France, a suburb south of Paris.

Despite the fact that one of the attackers called the victim an antisemitic slur, a “dirty Jew”, the police have not classified the incident as an antisemitic attack, the local judiciary police have opened up an investigation and are currently trying to determine if the crime was motivated by antisemitism.

The crime occurred in the courthouse neighbourhood, an area that Jewish businesses helped develop. Petty criminals are known to frequent the area.

Haaretz reported that when the police showed the victim 120 photographs of local criminals, he was able to recognize one of his attackers. The Haaretz article also revealed that “police believe the same local thug attacked a non-Jewish man on the same day.”

Albert Elharrar, the leader of the Creteil Jewish community, told the press that “the local thugs” assaulted the victim, a father, who was “returning home from work”. The perpetrators “hit” [the victim] “from behind” and “threw him on the ground and beat him”.

Elharrar told Le Parisien that “the victim was brave enough to hit one of his aggressors back, which allowed him to try to escape, but they caught him.”

Creteil, which is the home to approximately 22,000 Jews, is one of France’s largest Jewish communities  As reported in Haaretz, Elharrar believes that, despite this attack, Creteil is a “safe” city for Jews. “This is a place where different communities live side by side”.

However, in the past three years, there has beenan antisemitic robbery and a rape, which motivated several Jewish families from Creteil to move to Israel. But Elharrar thinks that “it’s not because of Creteil itself, but [because of] the feeling of insecurity in France altogether”.

According to French Jewish leaders, antisemitism stills threatens the safety of Jews. In 2015, there were 808 assaults on Jews, a record high, which caused many French Jews to leave the country. But despite a 61% reduction of hate crimes against Jews in France in 2016, the Jewish community remains vigilant.

Therefore, it is of great concern that the Jewish man, who was attacked in Creteil, was called a “dirty Jew”. As Elharrar pointed out in the Haaretz article:”he wasn’t wearing any distinctive sign”, like a Jewish skull cap, that would have “identified him as Jewish”.

Unfortunately, there is not enough evidence, at this point in time, to determine if the attackers marked the victim as a Jew because they saw him  enter a synagogue, or a kosher supermarket. However, the fact that there was no obvious way to identify the man as Jewish opens up the disturbing possibility that the attackers could have been searching for victims in the Jewish community. The police must conclude their investigation before it is known if the attacker intentionally tracked the victim, in order to commit an antisemitic crime.

 

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Africa Bureaucracy Europe Everyday Antisemitism Facebook Featured France Location Medium Online Politics Tunisia Ξ Channels Ξ E-mail Ξ Social Media

French Embassy reinstates “Hitler didn’t finish the job” employee

The French embassy in Tunisia has allowed a worker to resume their duties after antisemitic comments were posted on their Facebook page.

Selim Dakhlaoui was suspended in August after comments surfaced that had been made in his name.

These comments included “Hitler didn’t finish the job”, said in the context of a discussion about Israel. He also allegedly posted “Soon it will be the end of Israel” with a missile emoji and “Go to hell, Israel”.

He later claimed that his account had been compromised. The JTA has just revealed that he was reinstated after an investigation.

Online antisemitism is absolutely rampant, and Dakhlaoui’s claim that his account has been compromised will seem like a get out of jail free card to Jewish communities in France, and the tiny number left in Tunisia, who are unlikely to be convinced by such a defence.

The CRIF, which represents Jewish communities in France, commented on the initial allegations: “This is a hateful comment, just like the ones we see too often on social media…except this one was authored by an employee of the embassy of France in Tunisia. We anxiously await their reaction!”

We cannot help but think that many Jewish communities will be saddened and disappointed, albeit not necessarily surprised by such a reaction. Employers and states must start to find ways to deal with online antisemitism of this sort, as unless they do so, almost anyone will be able to avoid disciplinary action simply by denying authorship of a post on their own account.

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Europe Everyday Antisemitism France Location Medium Verbal Abuse Violence

Orthodox Jew beaten by attacker shouting “Dirty Jew, I will kill you” in Strasbourg

A 70 year-old Orthodox Jew, wearing a kippah, was attacked on November 6th.  The attack took place in the middle of the day, outside the main synagogue of Strasbourg.  The attacker beat the victim in the face and legs, and cursed him and said “Dirty Jew, I will kill you”.  The attacker had previously sworn at a Jew passing by on a bicycle.

The victim was lightly injured and needed medical attention.

Witnesses to the attack called in the police and an ambulance.  The attacker, who tried to escape in his car, was detained by the police, but was shortly thereafter released.

We await further information as to the police investigation and actions.

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Antisemitic police officer assigned to protect French Jewish communal leader

Le Pointe has reported that an allegedly antisemitic French Muslim police officer, who protected an official of the Consistoire Israelite (CRIF)  has been removed as the Jewish leader’s guard. The unnamed police officer, who is a convert to Islam, has been accused of proselytising while on duty.

CRIF, the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions, filed a complaint with the Directorate General of Internal Security. The police officer is an employee of The Protection Service, a government agency that provides security for government officials and individuals whose jobs are subject to risk.

Investigators discovered the police officer’s name on a private list of Egalite et Reconciliation, a website run by Alain Sorel,  Sorel has been publically accused of alleged antisemitism, due to his past ties to the National Front, and his friendship with the French comedian, Dieudonne, who has been convicted of antisemitism by the courts.

The police officer is also a known admirer of both Leon Degrelle, the Walloon Belgian politician  turned Nazi collaborator, and Julius Evola, the Italian writer whose work influenced many neo-Nazi supporters.

And while the numbers are small, there have been other incidents of French Muslim police officers promoting Islam while on patrol. Le Parisien leaked a Department of Public Security confidential memo that revealed that, between 2012-2015, there were 17 cases of French Muslim police officers who were charged with broadcasting religious chants while on duty.

In addition, an unspecified number of French Muslim police officers have refused to guard synagogues, or observe moments of silence in honor of Jewish victims of terror.

 

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Europe Featured France Hazardous Materials Location Medium

Car with cylinders of gas discovered outside Marseille Synagogue

A suspect vehicle filled with canisters of gas was found parked outside a Synagogue in Marseille on Saturday.

Police found the car outside the Bar Yohaye Jewish Community Centre.

Police had recently apprehended three individuals in connection to a planned attack outside the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, which was to involve a car filled with canisters of explosive gas. However, there seems to be no indication that the two incidents are linked.

The police are searching for the owner of the car.

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French Jews pushed out of public schools by Antisemitism

Haaretz has reported that French Jews are being pushed out of the French schooling system by a culture of prevalent antisemtism.

One Jewish parent said that, despite having been educated in a French public school some years prior, the situation is now so bad that “anti-Semitic bullying means it would be too damaging for any Jewish kid you put there”.

Thirty years ago the majority of French Jews sent their children to public schools. The figure is now at only one third. In Paris, which has the largest population of Jews in France, almost all the children attend either private schools or Jewish schools.

French Jews have cited a “bad atmosphere of harassment, insults and assaults” for the change, as well as the growth of Jewish education that has gone along with increasing religious observance.

Whilst the incidents are usually ‘only’ instances of general bullying, some have involved serious intimidation, physical violence and death threats. Other incidents have included spraying a Jewish student with deodorant to ‘simulate’ a gas chamber, and a Jewish student being corned by classmates and being threatened with stabbing.

These incidents go alongside a steep increase in antisemitism in France generally, which has seen 20,000 French Jews leave for Israel in the past 4 years.

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Antisemitic graffiti on a Jewish shop window in France

Reminiscent of the  Nazi era when Jewish businesses were targeted for abuse and boycotts, and antisemitic writings were stuck on shop fronts, a post by Philo on  ‘The New Antisemite’ blog dated 22nd August 2016, shows a photograph of graffiti on a shop window in France which states ‘ commerde sale juif’. “Commerde” should read “commerce”, but works the French word “merde” in, which translates as ‘shit’. Translating the French text into English Philo writes: ” this could be interpreted as ‘ this shit shop belongs to a dirty Jew'”.

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Hasidic Rabbi stabbed in Strasbourg by attacker shouting “Allahu Ackbar”

A Hasidic Rabbi was stabbed this afternoon in Strabourg, by an attacker shouting “Allahu Ackbar”.

Rabbi Chalom Levy, who is described as belonging to a Hasidic sect, was stabbed in the Jewish quarter of the city, 500 metres from the Great Synagogue.

Rabbi Mendel Samama, another Rabbi in Strasbourg, said that Rabbi Levy described his survival as a “miracle”.

“He was shocked. He is weak. He was hit in the abdominal region a few centimetres from a vital organ”, said Rabbi Samama.

The Grand Rabbi of Strasbourg, Rabbi René Gutman, has said that this is the work of one lone attacker, and is not reflective of a wider problem in the city, but has requested additional security.

Strasbourg has a Jewish community numbering around 15,000.

The attacker has reportedly been involved in a similar attack previously.

France has been described as one of the most dangerous countries to be a Jew and over half of French Jews wish to leave the country for Israel.

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Everyday Antisemitism France Online Ξ E-mail Ξ Social Media

French Politician’s Antisemitic Twitter Account

Djamel Boumaaz, a local politician in the French city of Montpelier, has been discovered using antisemitic language on his twitter bio. Boumazz used the phrase ‘interdit aux chiens et aux juifs’, which translates as ‘forbidden to dogs and Jews’.

A screenshot of the bio can be viewed here.

The Jerusalem Post has since investigated Boumazz’s posts, which has revealed further antisemitism, including describing the Holocaust as ‘imaginary things’, and tweeting a photo of the bodies of Holocaust victims with the caption ‘I have a heap of Jewish friends’. The JP also reported that he is a known friend and associate of the prominent antisemite and Holocaust denier Dieudonne.

Boumazz, a Muslim, was previously a member of the French National Front, before leaving the party in disagreement over Marine Le Pen’s anti-Islamic rhetoric.

The local police are currently investigating.

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Everyday Antisemitism France Vandalism Ξ E-mail

French synagogue vandalised with swastikas and “Screw the Jews”

Black swastikas and other antisemitic graffiti was discovered by congregants on Saturday morning in the small French city of Verdun. It was the first incident of its kind in the city in recent memory.

Swastikas were drawn over a relief shaped like the Tablets of Testimony, drawn over the Hebrew inscription.

“Screw the Jews” and other antisemitic slogans were written on the wall.

The vandals also forced open an outer door, but were not able to breach the second, more sturdy entrance.

“I am speechless, shocked and outraged at this incident,” the local community’s vice president, Jean Blacharz, said.

Police have placed extra security around the synagogue and are investigating the incident. The vandals remain unidentified.

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Jewish 13-year-old brutally attacked outside Paris synagogue

A 13-year-old Jewish boy was brutally attacked by three men on Saturday outside a Paris synagogue, where he was meeting his father. Seeing his skullcap, the men allegedly called him a “dirty Jew” and punched him several times, tore off his skullcap, grabbed him by the hair and smashed his head against a post. The attackers then ran away as passersby approached. Police are looking for three men of “African origin”.

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Message carved on lift in French housing project appears to target Jews for jihadi terrorism

Residents of a housing project in Joinville-le-Pont have reported an “intolerable” message carved into a lift door with a sharp object. On one door is a swastika and the word “Nazis” and on the other is a Star of David and the word “Jihad”.

Source: CFCA/New Antisemite/94 Citoyens

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Six months in prison and €3,400 fine and costs for Frenchman who daubed antisemitic graffiti

A 21-year-old who defaced a youth centre and an apartment building in Grigny with graffiti saying “F*** the Jews” and praising Youssouf Fofana and Mohammed Merah, two French-Muslim anti-Jewish murderers, has been sentenced to six months in prison and must pay a €500 fine. Fofana kidnapped a 23-year-old French Jew and tortured him to death over the course of three weeks in 2006, while Merah murdered a teacher and three children aged 8, 6 and 3 at a Jewish school in Toulouse in 2012, having previously murdered four paratroopers.

Besides claiming innocence in court, he also threatened to cause a riot by bringing the Muslim community, in its entirety, to the trial, which the judge considered a “shocking” defence strategy. The claimants in the case were the city of Grigny, as well as LICRA and CRIF, two French organisations which fight antisemitism. The defendant was ordered to pay them damages of €800, €1,300 and €800 respectively.

The perpetrator was tracked down when the name he had daubed on the buildings in June 2014 matched an online account he had and the photo on that account matched that of an individual with a “copious” police record.

Source: Le Parisien

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Paris court fines antisemitic Yahoo post author €1,500 and €500 damages for incitement

The 17th chamber of the High Court in Paris (Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris) has reportedly awarded the author of a series of antisemitic posts on Yahoo a fine of €1,500, plus €500 damages to be paid to a French antisemitism watchdog. The court, which specialises in media offences, severely condemned the author of several posts which incited hatred against Jews, according to the organisation which instigated the proceedings, BNVCA (National Bureau for Vigilance Against Antisemitism). In a statement, BNVCA said that the court fined the author of the posts €1,500 and ordered that the offending party also pay €500 to BNVCA.

The case was initiated in 2012 by a BNVCA lawyer, Maître Marc Bensimhon, against the authors of various posts inciting hatred against Jews and even calling for Jews to be murdered. Investigators apparently used human intelligence and high-tech investigation methods to track down the anonymous author.

Source: BNVCA

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France’s prestigious Sciences Po expels a student for antisemitism

Amira Jumaa, a third-year student at Sciences Po University in Paris, interning at the French Embassy in New York, wrote to a Jew on Facebook that her country, Kuwait, could “buy you and your parents and put you in ovens.” The story was originally circulated on social media by the group Inglourious Basterds, which caused Sciences Po to end her embassy internship and to suspend her from the university. Now she has been permanently expelled. This is the first time that a student has been expelled from Sciences Po for disciplinary reasons.

Source: i24

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Jewish man injured in stabbing attack at Marseille synagogue, 15-year-old suspect in custody

A Jewish man has been injured in a stabbing attack this morning in the French city of Marseille. According to Times of Israel, Binyamin Amsalem, a teacher, sustained light injuries to his hand. His life was saved by his Torah (Jewish bible) with which he shielded himself.

Reports say that the 15-year-old attacker shouted “Allahu Akhbar” and attempted to stab congregants as they left the synagogue after morning prayers, and when he was unsuccessful fled the scene, throwing his knife away. Police apprehended the attacker ten minutes later.

According to the Marseille prosecutor: “He claimed to have acted in the name of Allah and the Islamic State, repeating several times to have done this on behalf of ISIS.”

A police source told Le Figaro that the attacker appeared to be insane, but ISIS has previously told its supporters to use insanity as an excuse. In a stabbing attack on synagogue-goers in October in Marseille, the assailant claimed to be insane, but this was rejected by the court. ISIS supporters in Marseille also stabbed a Jewish teacher in November.

http://twitter.com/ILNewsFlash/status/686483188798099456

Source: Le FigaroTimes of Israel

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Elderly female cancer patient in France humiliated by bus driver who mistook her for a Jew

A lady from France sent in the following report:

My husband is a doctor in Roubaix, France, where there are very few Jews. On Friday, he walked into his waiting room to get the next patient, and he saw an elderly lady with a wig and modest clothes. He realised she was wearing the wig because of her chemotherapy treatments. When she got into his office, she burst into tears and cried all the way through her story: she had boarded a city bus, and given five euros to the driver, whom she described as a man of Arabic descent. He gave her her change all in pennies, laughing. She asked whether she could have some coins of a higher denomination, and he just laughed and said he was within his rights. She said she had never felt so humiliated, in front of all of the other passengers on the bus, and she could not stop crying. My husband is not Jewish but understood straight away. He explained to her that with the wig and the way she happened to be dressed, the bus driver had surely taken her for a Jew.

A common antisemitic trope is that Jews are miserly and ‘chase pennies’.

Source: Reported to Everyday Antisemitism

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Ukrainian neo-Nazi paramilitary group planning to convene in France

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre has issued a warning over “a troubling meeting” in Nantes on 16th January of supporters of the Ukrainian Azov Battalion. According to the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, “a majority of the unit’s members can be labelled as neo-Nazi in iconising ‘Hitler as a great military leader’ and in denying the Holocaust; in claiming that ‘Putin is a Jew’; by the Wolfsangel (Wolfs Hook) logo on their banner and swastika tattoos; and in quotes from the unit’s leader, Colonel Andrey Biletzky, that his historic mission is ‘a crusade against the Semite-led Untermenschen [subhumans]…the struggle for the liberation of the entire White race’”. The Simon Wiesenthal Centre called on the mayor of Nantes to ban the meeting.

Source: The Simon Wiesenthal Centre

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Everyday Antisemitism France Vandalism Ξ E-mail

Graffiti in France threatens to kill Jews and glorifies ISIS and Mohammed Merah

Graffiti containing antisemitic death threats and glorifying ISIS and Mohammed Merah (who murdered Jewish schoolchildren and a teacher in Toulouse, and soldiers on guard duty) were found yesterday morning on the wall under the balcony of a building on rue de Seine, in Sartrouville, France.

A forensic team gathered evidence before the graffiti was cleaned away by the municipality, although a lack of CCTV video cameras will make the investigation difficult.

Source: CFCA/InfoNormandie

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Paris’ famous Sacré-Coeur Basilica defaced with “F*** the Jewish community” graffiti

The famous Sacré-Coeur Basilica in the 18th arrondissement of Paris has been defaced with graffiti saying “F*** the Jewish community”. The graffiti has still not been removed.

Source: CFCA/JSS News

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Wave of antisemitic graffiti in Paris claims “Israel sterilises black people”, praises Alain Soral

On Friday night, several streets in the 19th arrondissement of Paris were vandalised with slogans inspired by the theories of Alain Soral and Dieudonné, including: “Israel sterilises black people”, “atheist Jew = Racism”, and “Soral is right.”

Alain Soral said in a 2004 interview: “When you’re talking with a Frenchman who is a Zionist Jew, and you start to say, well maybe there are problems coming from your side, maybe you might have made a few mistakes, it’s not always the fault of other people if no-one can stand you wherever you go… because that’s basically their general history, you see… for 2,500 years, every time they settled somewhere, after about fifty years or so, they get their arses kicked. Surely something strange here ! It’s as though everyone is wrong except them. And the guy will start barking, yelling, going mad… you can’t be able to carry on with the conversation. Which, to sum it all up, tells you that there’s a psychopathology with Zio-Judaism, something that verges on mental illness…”

Source: CFCA/Confusionnisme, Wikipedia

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Everyday Antisemitism France Hazardous Materials Ξ E-mail

Fourteen Jewish women injured by chemical agent on French synagogue entry panel

French emergency services have treated fourteen women for burns and itching on their hands and eyes after they touched a security code panel at a synagogue in Bonneuil-sur-Marne which had been coated with a chemical agent.

The incident took place after services had finished and soldiers charged with protecting the synagogue had finished their watch.

Twenty-five emergency medical staff had to be deployed and the victims have now returned home.

A police laboratory is now identifying the chemical used. Police are treating the incident as a criminal act.

Source: CFCA/Le Parisien

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Everyday Antisemitism France Verbal Abuse Ξ E-mail

Man on Paris train shouts at Jewish youths “If only I had a fragmentation grenade”

A group of young orthodox Jews travelling by train through a suburb of Paris were subjected to an antisemitic rant caught on a camera by a fellow passenger.

The man, who described himself as being of Algerian descent, abused and threatened eight Jewish youths on the RER D line near Melun, a suburb of Paris, on 7th December at 21:30.

He said: “You band of motherf***er bastard Jews … You band of bitches; you dirty bastard race,” before adding: “If only I had a fragmentation grenade.”

He then ranted about Israel, claiming it had recently killed 5,000 Palestinian babies, before leaving the train at the Villeneuve Saint-Georges station.

Nobody intervened.

Source: Algemeiner

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Founder of French National Front sends antisemitic tweet

Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the National Front party in France sent an antisemitic tweet to a politician from the French Republican party. Jean-Marie Le Pen, who was expelled from the National Front at a Special Congress in August, tweeted Christian Estrosi, the Republican incumbent mayor of Nice who is being challenged in a close election by Jean-Marie Le Pen’s granddaughter, National Front candidate Marion Maréchal Le Pen. In the tweet, Jean-Marie Le Pen referred to close poll results, telling to Estrosi to “Put on a brave face” with a link to a a video of Estrosi wearing a Jewish skullcap and dancing with Jewish men. The tweet was deleted shortly afterwards.

https://twitter.com/arthurberdah/status/673623660704477184/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Source: CFCA/TF1

 

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Paris attacks mastermind wanted to “do worse in districts close to the Jews”

The architect of the Paris attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, reportedly told his cousin on 15th November that he intended to carry out attacks on Jewish targets, among others.

A leaked witness statement published earlier this week revealed how Abaaoud approached his cousin, Hasna Ait Boulahcen, two days after the terrorist attacks, asking her to hide him while he prepared further attacks. The witness statement said that Abaaoud told his cousin that “they would do worse in districts close to the Jews and would disrupt transport and schools.”

 

Source: Daily Mirror

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TIME writer claims it is easier to explain the murder of Jews than of non-Jews in Paris

Journalist Vivienne Walt, writing in TIME, has suggested it is easier to explain the murder of Jewish Parisians than the murder of non-Jewish Parisians:

In January it had been relatively simple to explain to my child, who was then eight, why the cartoonists had been the target, and why a Jewish supermarket was attacked—grim as the details were… Answering questions over dinner on Sunday was more difficult, however. The targets this time were young people having fun on a warm Friday night; people, in fact, who were his age not all that long ago. To children in Paris, Charlie Hebdo had seemed a one-off attack, involving targets that were not part of our ordinary lives.

Walt also suggested that Jewish people in a supermarket were not “the most normal of people,” writing that:

…Friday’s attacks impacted so many regular Parisians because they had been aimed directly at the most normal of people — the drinkers, the concert-goers, the soccer fans.

The Algemeiner news site adds that despite Walt’s suggestion that the youth of the victims was also more shocking in the November attacks than the January attacks, “Yoav Hattab, murdered in the HyperCacher kosher supermarket attack in January, was 21, and Yohan Cohen was 22. They were pretty young. In fact, they were younger than nearly every victim of the more recent Paris attacks. But apparently that didn’t make it more difficult to explain their murders to Vivienne’s 8-year-old son. Shopping for food is probably as familiar an experience to her son as sitting in a café or going to a concert, but clearly that didn’t make the job of explaining those murders any more difficult.”

Source: Time Magazine/Algemeiner

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French editor fined for article attacking “Jewish thought police” and “Jewish tyranny”

The editor of the French far-right publication Rivarol, Fabrice Bourbon, has been fined €4,000 by an appeal court for incitement to hatred against Jews. In January 2014, Rivarol published an article entitled “The unacceptable Jewish thought police”, attacking the decision of France’s Council of State to ban performances by antisemitic comic Dieudonné M’Bala M’Bala.The article referred to the Council of State as “a rabbinical court” and stated that French people were living under “full Jewish tyranny”. The Court of Appeal doubled the fine originally imposed by decision of the lower court.

Source: CFCA/OJIM

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French ambassador to the USA suggests Jews are not ordinary citizens

A Freudian slip by Gérard Araud, French Ambassador to the United States of America, has prompted outrage after he distinguished between French Jews targeted by terrorists and “ordinary citizens”. In a letter to French citizens living in the US following the terrorist attacks in Paris, Araud wrote: “These are the foundations of our model of society that the terrorists seek to destroy: Yesterday journalists and Jews; now ordinary citizens whose only crime was to enjoy life on a Friday night in Paris.”

The letter prompted disgust on social media. Ron Agam, a French-born artist living in New York, posted his outrage on Facebook: “Tonight French people in the US received a letter from the French Ambassador about the events in Paris. To my surprise I learned that I — the Jew that I am — was not a regular French citizen, I was a Jew.”

Source: Algemeiner

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Jewish boy reportedly beaten with sticks by pro-Palestinian protesters shouting antisemitic slurs in Paris

A young Jew had reportedly been beaten with sticks in Paris. According to reports, the boy was approached by a group with pro-Palestinian banners. The group are said to have shouted antisemitic slurs and beaten the boy with sticks.

Source: CFCA/Le Monde Juif

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ISIS supporters stab Jewish man wearing kippah in Marseille

A man wearing a kippah (Jewish skullcap) has been stabbed in Marseille by three assailants who shouted antisemitic abuse and support for ISIS. Police say the attack took place at around 20:00 local time. The victim is a 57-year-old man who was attacked outside his home near a school and synagogue complex, according to AFP.

The attackers forced their victim to look at photographs on their smartphone of Mohammed Merah, the French Islamist terrorist who went on a rampage in 2012, shooting dead three French soldiers, a Jewish teacher and three Jewish schoolchildren aged three, six and eight.

They then showed him a t-shirt with the ISIS logo and stabbed him multiple times on the arms, legs and stomach. A police patrol arrived and the attackers fled on a scooter. Their victim somehow escaped serious injury.

Last month three Jews were attacked on their way to synagogue by a man of Moroccan or Algerian descent shouting antisemitic abuse. At the time Marseille police suggested that the man was mentally disturbed but this was later refuted by one of his victims, and the court dismissed the attacker’s plea of insanity.

Source: AFP

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French consulate in New York dismisses intern who believes Jews are “dispersed rats”

An intern at the French consulate in New York has been dismissed after her online tirade against Jewish people came to light. Writing on Facebook, Amira Jumaa had said of the brutal stabbing of Jews in Israel: “Yes you Jews deserve these lessons,” continuing: “You don’t belong anywhere in this world — that‘s why you guys are scums and rats and discriminated against wherever you are.” When another Facebook user remonstrated with her, she retorted: “First of all you dispersed rat, I am not an immigrant from France. I am from Kuwait so my country can buy you and your parents and put you in ovens,” presumably referring to the crematoria used by the Nazis to dispose of the corpses of Jews murdered in the concentration camps. Jumaa’s university, Sciences Po in Paris, has yet to comment.

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Everyday Antisemitism France Violence Ξ E-mail

Jews stabbed on way to Marseille synagogue leaving a woman in a serious condition

Three Jews, including a rabbi, have been attacked on their way to synagogue in Marseille, France. A woman in her fifties was reportedly seriously injured after being stabbed twice in the stomach, although her injuries are said not to be life-threatening.

The attack took place yesterday morning at 07:30 as the rabbi and two congregants walked to their synagogue. They came under attack by a knife-wielding man who was reportedly shouting antisemitic abuse and heavily drunk. The woman was stabbed twice before one of the other congregants apparently rushed to defend her, suffering a knife wound himself.

The victims reportedly fled to another nearby synagogue where they were protected by the synagogue’s security team.

When local police arrived, the attacker, described as being of Moroccan or Algerian descent, continued to shout antisemitic abuse at the officers. The attacker was reportedly already known to the police as he is said to have a history of mental illness and violence.

The French National Bureau for Vigilance Against Antisemitism (BNVCA) has voiced concern that the antisemitic stabbing of Jews in Israel may encourage similar attacks against Jews outside Israel. The BNVCA repeated its warning in the wake of the attack.

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French professor assaulted in latest act of antisemitic intimidation

A French Jewish professor has been assaulted and issued with a death threat outside his home in the suburbs of Paris. Samuel Mayol, the director of a technical university was attacked whilst walking his dog on the evening of 9th October. A man approached and hit Mayol’s head against a wall three times causing concussion and cuts, telling Mayol that he will be killed. The attack appears to be the latest act in a campaign of intimidation targeting Mayol.

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French city’s residents object to new synagogue in case it attracts terrorists to the area

Residents of the French city of Perpignan have launched a legal bid to block the construction of a new synagogue. The residents are objecting on various grounds, including that the synagogue is likely to be a target for terrorists and therefore a risk to the area. The old synagogue had become dilapidated and the Jewish community hopes to build a new, more secure synagogue closer to the city centre.

Photo: Michel Clementz

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Young Parisian Jew beaten up by gang at Métro station for being Jewish

A young Parisian named only as Ruben has been beaten up by a gang of three men in the Montreuil neighbourhood of Paris.

According to BNVCA, the French national antisemitism helpline, Ruben was at Robespierre Métro station at 17:00 on Tuesday when he was accosted by a tall man aged 25-30 of African ethnicity.

The man asked Ruben for a lighter and to state his religion. Out of fear, Ruben said he was a Moroccan Muslim, but the man punched him in the face, saying “No, you’re not Muslim. Everyone from Mayer [a local vocational school] is Jewish. You’re nothing but a dirty Jew.”

The man was then joined by two other men of African ethnicity, their identities concealed by hoods. Ruben was left with bruises over his face and body requiring hospital treatment.