Parisian Jews: Anti-Semitism on the rise

by tikun | February 15, 2009 at 03:32 am

334 views | 45 Recommendations | 8 comments

This is quite serious. It is eerily reminiscent of the past.

On three-year anniversary of murder of 23-year-old French Jew Ilan Halimi, community members say situation only worsened, with racially motivated incidents occurring almost everyday. Michael Benhamou, who was attacked last month, plans to immigrate to Israel, says 'there's nothing left for us here'
Friday marked three years since the horrendous murder of 23-year-old Parisian Jew Ilan Halimi, which was apparently motivated by anti-Semitism, and it seems, that in the time that has passed, not much has changed for the Jews in France.

"Things just keep getting worse," said the president of one of Paris' major Jewish communities Serj Ben-Haim. "Ilan's murder has become a symbol, and we will never forget it, but anti-Semitism just continues to rise.

0 See all footage | View Slideshow

Share: email story | add to any | | facebook | stumbleupon

recommend This comment thread is now closed

Fripouille

at 05:41 on February 15th, 2009

Yes, the situation has worsened.

France's large immigrant population is majoritarily composed of muslims of Northern African origin, and the recent Gaza fighting became a pretext for a substantial number of attacks on people and synagogues. Another phenomena which I find to be particularly ominous is the number of physical attacks perpetrated on jewish schoolchildren by their muslim classmates...

This surrogate Gaza violence worried the government to the point where religious leaders on both sides of the divide were asked to help calm things down. They did so, but only grudgingly...

It is only fair to say though that the government does its best to counter this violence, and offenders are severely punished....

LotusFlower

at 06:08 on February 15th, 2009

This said I watched an interview with a Jewish leader who warned against thinking that the attacks on cemeteries and synagogues were just down to Muslims - he felt that such attacks bore the hallmarks of the far right who see the Gaza situation as a way forward with their own anti-semitic activities both in France and the UK

Fripouille

at 07:12 on February 15th, 2009

You are right there Lotus Flower, which is why I didn't mention attacks on cemeteries, which are, as you say, the handiwork of far right sympathisers for the most part. And, of course, I would never say that these attacks are uniquely carried out by muslims, but denying that most of them are would certainly not be true either. Moreover, even muslim leaders called for calm amongst young muslims (not enough in my view, but...)

The far right has not been, for the most part, involved in the recent spike in attacks against synagogues and people sparked off by the recent fighting in Gaza, and that is borne out when you read the identities of those arrested. In fact my comment only addressed the Gaza-inspired attacks and the recent attacks in schools. I am very sorry if my post didn't seem clear there, and I hope this clears that up....

Concerning the National Front, it is in (at least temporary) decline, and most of the far right wingers right now seem to be isolated small groups. Thank heavens it's not like it was a few years ago, with NF rallies attracting thousands of people. One of those rallies finished by the murder of a young muslim, beaten up and thrown into the river Seine in Paris by NF "Security Personnel".

Roy C

at 20:36 on February 15th, 2009

Muslims are right-wingers on every basic human value. They want women to be subordinate to men, and they want homosexuality outlawed. They consider the testimony of women in courts of law inferior to men's testimony. Just three examples there. They think there is this one book that described exactly what God thinks.

They often want the Law of Sharia to be the law of the land, and they have been successfully lobbying to have it be their own law of the land in the UK, in what has to be the most enormous setbacks since the Magna Carta.

"Right-wingers" were accused during the Cold War of desecrating Jewish cemeteries with swastikas. After the fall of Soviet Union, it was revealed that often soviet agents performed such deeds to rouse suspicions about the right.

The Soviet Union managed to persecute Jews in spite of being ground zero for the extreme left. It all began during Stalin's reign of terror and continued right up until the Soviet Union fell.

tikun

at 08:23 on February 16th, 2009

The Beth Din system has only to do with marriage and divorce outside of Israel. Maybe some civil disputes. But one is NOT required to use the system under Jewish law. Also, under Jewish law each individual ultra orthodox group has their own judiciary for their own community. Not quite the same as you have been describing. In fact, in Israel and the US it is not used much except if you are of the orthodox wing of Judaism.

What is "systemic support of Israel"? I see no mis-quoting of the Koran in this discussion. I normally do not respond to the not-verified but show yourself so we have someone that is more then a mere ghost.

Fripouille

at 11:41 on February 16th, 2009

Your definition is correct svjvlffbloggers (do you think I'm gonna type your name out letter for letter lol!).

Having said that, the syndrome cannot be said to apply uniquely to Israel 'supporters' as I'm sure you agree. There are plenty of people on NP who show "systemic support" for the other side too.

That's normal, it's human,........and it's no big deal in my humble opinion.

Thanks.

tikun

at 11:46 on February 16th, 2009

What you see is what I am on the net. Google me and you will have it all. I can't even see you let alone shake your cyber hand.

? (not verified)

at 12:46 on February 23rd, 2009

France has the third largest Jewish population in the world and is not the only country in which jewish people are still continuiously being made the victim of despicable attacks against them solely because of their religion. Anti-semitism has to stop! Why can't all religions live in peace! There is NO book which declares a religion is superior over another. There is discrimination over several different things, religion probabely the most offensive . The president must do everything in his power to stop it especially after 6 million jews were killed in the Holocaust, it would be very undecent to ignore it .

All human beings are equal. It is discusting how people are using Gaza to attack Jews. You can not assume someone is connected with this attack because they are jewish. It is important to remember there is a difference between views and actions. I am a British Jew but i am not invloved in this at all! Just like the rest of us I am helpless and watching in horror as the conflict only worsens.

These attacks have to be a message to everyone and raise awareness that any attack of the sort is absolutely, morally, logically completely and utterly unacceptable. It can not be emphasised enough that noone should be discriminated against on the basis of religion, skin colour etc, nationality. We are all of different cultures, faiths and nationalities but let us not use this as a means to establish one group of persons superiority over another but instead to appreciate the vibrant disversity and colour it adds in the society with live in.

You may have noticed I havan't included the actions one should take to fight agaisnt this since I am not sure myself what would be the most effective thing to do. However, I am certain that sitting here and waiting for the next enevitable attack resolves nothing either. To tackle anti-semitism specifically I think we should answer the question as to why people are people racist in the first place and indentify these people. Lets face it, a majority of attacks on French jews are from arabs and muslims(brain-washed). The problem is the government is scared to offend the arab group so they don't get to the heart of the problem and protect the innocent jews from attacks. Well, i'm sorry but if the arabs are willing to attack the jews then it is perfectly legitimate to critisise the arabs!