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The “Loneliness” Of French Jews: French Responses To Anti Jewish Racism, Bigotry, And Discrimination

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Noam Schimmel wrote “The “Loneliness” Of French Jews: French Responses To Anti Jewish Racism, Bigotry, And Discrimination” as part of the 2015 Humanity in Action Diplomacy and Diversity Fellowship. The research essay was first published in Shifting Paradigms (Humanity in Action Press 2016). The complete book is available for purchase on Amazon.


This climate of aggression against Jews continues at high levels without precedent in the post World War II era. (2)

Since 2012, France has suffered from a significant increase in the number of anti-Jewish hate crimes and their severity. These form part of a rise in anti-Jewish attacks across most of Western Europe and heightened expressions of anti-Jewish racism and bigotry. (1)

France has Europe’s largest Jewish population, estimated at between 500,000 and 600,000 individuals. Attacks against Jews in France have been particularly violent and more frequently so than in other European countries. This climate of aggression against Jews continues at high levels without precedent in the post World War II era. (2) Many French Jews have chosen to emigrate from France, largely in response to this rise in insecurity and violation of their human rights and their rights as French citizens. (3) The number of French Jews who emigrated to Israel in 2014, just over 7,000, was the highest recorded since the founding of the State of Israel in 1948.

While the executive branch of government has responded fairly forcefully to anti-Jewish attacks in France, the response of local governments has been less apparent and decisive.

While the executive branch of government has responded fairly forcefully to anti-Jewish attacks in France, the response of local governments has been less apparent and decisive. Moreover, the current responsiveness follows the relative indifference of the French government to a large increase in anti-Jewish attacks and social prejudices between 1999 and 2001 and continuing at a very high rate until 2004 and then spiking upwards again and rising from the late 2000s until now. (4) The French Parliament has historically legislated substantial laws to protect the rights of minorities, including the French Jewish community.

However, its members and their statements and actions could play a much stronger role in combating anti-Jewish racism by speaking out against it more frequently and more forcefully. Further, without a strong local and regional response to accompany the national one, it will be extremely difficult to make much headway in curbing anti-Jewish attacks, racism, and discrimination. A comprehensive and well-coordinated approach to responding to contemporary anti-Jewish racism and discrimination is necessary across all sectors of the French government and civil society for it to be effective and have a tangible impact nationally.

The French government has in the last 20 years more fully and honestly accounted for France’s role in the Shoah and supported education promoting knowledge and awareness of its history and advancing the values of human rights and non-discrimination. 

It is essential to recognize the serious and sustained efforts of the French government to address anti-Jewish racism, including its legislative branch, which has initiated laws such as the Gayssot Act (Act NO. 90-165 of 13 July 1990) on the prosecution of all acts of racism, anti-Semitism, and xenophobia. (5) Furthermore, the French government has in the last 20 years more fully and honestly accounted for France’s role in the Shoah and supported education promoting knowledge and awareness of its history and advancing the values of human rights and non-discrimination. As Philippe Allouche, Director-General of France’s Paris-based Fondation pour la Memoire de la Shoah affirms,

“French public authorities have played an exemplary role since 1995 with the recognition of the French responsibility in the catastrophe of the Shoah, and this positive path has been fully pursued. Nevertheless, and even if Jewish population is fully integrated into French society today, we can see a certain resurgence of anti-Semitism, either direct, or under cover of anti-Zionism.” (6)

It is this resurgence that demands an immediate and substantive response from the French government to proactively address anti-Jewish violence, discrimination, and prejudice in contemporary France.

Anti-Jewish Attacks in France

Perhaps the most tangible expression of the French government’s response to anti-Jewish attacks and its defense of the rights and wellbeing of Jewish citizens are the significant resources it has invested in guarding Jewish communal institutions, schools, and related facilities. However, while such police protection is fundamental to protecting Jews and the freedom of Jews to practice their culture and religion and to sustain their communities, it does not address broader patterns of prejudice and discrimination against Jews in French society. It cannot, alone, secure the civil and human rights of French Jews.

Police protection cannot, alone, secure the civil and human rights of French Jews.

With a population of 500,000 to 600,000 Jews living in France, there is no way that police protection can ensure the physical safety of every Jewish citizen. Attacks take place in too many contexts: from private homes and public subway lines to supermarkets, on the streets, and in schools and other public institutions. France, furthermore, is a democratic, open, and free society, where the police have necessary and appropriate limitations on where and how they can act in enforcing the law. Their reach thus needs to be and is limited.

51% of racist acts committed in 2014 targeted Jews. 

The Interior Ministry of the French government and the Jewish Community Security Service (SPCJ) have partnered to collect data on anti-Jewish acts in France. The 2014 SPCJ report states that in the course of one year there was a “100% increase in anti-Semitic threats and actions, with a significant rise in violent actions and assaults.” (7) 851 such acts were recorded in 2014. The report further highlights the fact that Jews are victims of most racist attacks in the country: “51% of racist acts committed in 2014 targeted Jews. Jews represent less than 1% of the French population. Less than 1% of this country’s citizens are the target of half of all racist acts committed in France.” The report further states, “In 2014, violent acts increased by 130% compared to 2013. There were 241 violent acts in 2014 versus 105 in 2013.” (8)

The report describes the multi-dimensional character of anti-Jewish attacks in France and their prevalence across all major French regions and cities, with a particularly high concentration in Paris:

“Anti-Semitism has become increasingly violent and hyper-violent. Today, Anti-Semitic threats in France include persistent bias, sectarian stereotypes, deep hatred, but especially Anti-Semitic jihadist terror. Men and young children are killed for the sole reason that they are Jewish.” (9)

Stressing that anti-Jewish attacks have become the predominant form of racist attacks in France the report finds that,

“The 30-percent increase in racist acts committed in France in 2014 compared to 2013 comprises exclusively an increase in Anti-Semitic acts. Indeed, racist acts, excluding Anti-Semitic acts, that were recorded in 2014 decreased by 5 percent compared to 2013. This demonstrates once again how much we need tailored programs, adequate measures, and specific tools to fight Anti-Semitism efficiently. Many anti-racism programs do not stop the rise of Anti-Semitic acts, far from it.” (10)

Until now such programs have been largely weak, ineffective, and in many towns and locations, non-existent. (11)

Indeed, one of the reasons why the French government has announced a program funded with EUR 100 million to respond to anti-Jewish and other racist crimes and attacks on the Muslim community is because until now such programs have been largely weak, ineffective, and in many towns and locations, non-existent. (11) To succeed, this program will need to be implemented in a manner that reaches the French population as a whole, across all generational, ethnic, and economic strata of society and for a sustained period of time that can consolidate its educational aims.

Elements of the 40 point program addressing anti-Jewish racism, Islamophobia, and discrimination against ethnic and other minorities in France include expanded Holocaust and human rights education in French schools, a public awareness campaign on the harms caused by anti-Jewish racism, permitting class action suits for discrimination, the creation of a national police unit to combat hate on the internet, and tougher sentencing guidelines for hate crimes, including against religious, ethnic, racial, and other disadvantaged groups.

According to Allouche, it is essential to address anti-Jewish hate speech on the internet. He says,

Education must be at the heart of an effective strategy to prevent, reduce, and respond to the increase in anti-Jewish hate crimes and racism and unlawful discrimination more broadly

“The Internet is another front line in the fight against anti-Semitism. Struggle against the spread of hate speech on the Internet has become crucial. The Internet is a place where the most nauseous ideologies can be expressed, nearly unhindered, and we have to track them down. We shall devise effective digital strategies to assess the size of the audience and to identify the influential web-users on the anti-Semitic sites, and respond to anti-Semitic propaganda by formulating adapted counter-arguments.” (12)

Allouche notes that legal action is taken against the most egregious offenders and that the Ministry of the Interior has a special platform, “Pharos,” to alert it of violations of laws that prohibit incitement to discrimination, hatred, and violence. He further emphasizes that education must be at the heart of an effective strategy to prevent, reduce, and respond to the increase in anti-Jewish hate crimes and racism and unlawful discrimination more broadly:

“Intolerance is often based on ignorance. In order to reduce those prejudices, it is necessary to pursue an educational work and continue to promote knowledge of Jewish history and culture, in schools and beyond. Public authorities and French civil society, as well as our Foundation, shall support educational and citizen-based initiatives intending to combat racism and anti-Semitism in all their forms, by targeting prejudices and attempting to conflate different issues. Just one example: the association CoExist, that aims to dismantle clichés or ethnic and social stereotypes at school. Given the alarming rise in intolerance, schools must redouble their efforts to transmit history and battle dangerous prejudices. Expanding on history classes, an educational work on the Shoah provides students with new perspectives. Drawing on witness accounts, the visits to memory sites offer them an opportunity to better understand what happened during the Shoah.” (13)

Public education advancing human rights and confronting anti-Jewish and other forms of racism is a task for the government, but it is also a task in sometimes less formal, yet no less essential, ways for religious institutions including churches, mosques, synagogues, and temples, the media, museums, and other institutions of public culture. The full spectrum of civil society, as well as French citizens as individuals, families, and communities, need to take part in these educational efforts.

“French Jews should not be afraid of being Jewish. French Muslims should not be afraid of being Muslims.” (15)

In a meeting with French Jewish youth in Creteil, the town where a Jewish couple was attacked – the woman was raped and the attackers said they attacked them because Jews have money – Prime Minister Valls discussed the program to combat anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim attacks, racism, and other discrimination. He said, “Racism, anti-Semitism, hatred of Muslims, of foreigners and homophobia are growing in an insufferable manner in our country.” (14) Valls was accompanied by five ministers, including the Justice, Interior, and Education ministers, demonstrating a strong government response to anti-Jewish and other discriminatory and racist attacks. He further states that, “French Jews should not be afraid of being Jewish. French Muslims should not be afraid of being Muslims.” (15)

In addition to coordinating with the Jewish community on measuring and seeking to combat anti-Jewish crimes, the French government has undertaken its own studies and reports issued by the National Consulting Commission for Human Rights, which addresses anti-Jewish, anti-Muslim, anti-Roma, and other racist acts since 1990. (16) These inform the French government’s response to hate crimes and unlawful discrimination in France. Clearly, however, there is a gap between the French government’s studying and reporting of these issues of anti-Jewish and other forms of discrimination in France and their willingness to organize, fund, and implement sufficient and effective programs to address the discrimination.

How French Jews Perceive and Experience the Rise in Anti-Jewish Attacks and Prejudices

The SPCJ report of the French Jewish community makes an extremely important point about the vulnerability Jews currently feel in France:

This “loneliness” is a response to the perception of many in the Jewish community of France that French society as a whole.

“(…) The author of this report invites members of the commission to come meet, on their grounds, French Jews who are worried and feel very lonely in their fight. Although they are reassured to see the authorities and various governments rallying in the fight against Anti-Semitism, they also voice their surprise and disappointment when society as a whole doesn’t mobilize at a time of dramatic events, such as the murder of Ilan Halimi and the attack against the Jewish school in Toulouse.” (17)

This “loneliness” is a response to the perception of many in the Jewish community of France that French society as a whole, as opposed to the executive branch of the French government, has been largely indifferent to the vulnerability of Jews and to their persecution.

The report compiled by the Jewish community compares the perceived contemporary indifference of French society with the vigorous response of a large cross-section of French society to anti-Jewish attacks in 1990:

“Older citizens remember the popular movement after the desecration of the [Jewish] cemetery in Carpentras that brought the French populace to the streets, uniquely led by the President of the French Republic François Mitterand. Hundreds of thousands of people came to voice their anger and outrage. In 2006, after the Anti-Semitic murder of Ilan Halimi, and in 2012, after the attack against the Jewish school in Toulouse, rallies were almost exclusively composed of members of the Jewish community.” (18)

A New York Times article reporting on the protests in Carpentras in 1990 noted that anywhere from 80,000 to 200,000 individuals participated in the march and that there was wide support and solidarity from a broad cross-section of French society including minority African, Asians, Blacks, and many non-Jews. France’s six major television networks at the time cancelled their regular programs and screened “Night and Fog,” a documentary about Nazi death camps, at the request of members of the French Jewish community who hoped it would help in educating the French public about the consequences of anti-Semitism in France and Europe. (19)

Intersection of anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish sentiments and the rise of both in response to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, in which attacks on French Jews are perversely justified as legitimate expressions of rejection of Israeli government policies, may contribute to the increase.

Civil society and the French government rallied comprehensively and forcefully in support of the Jewish community and against anti-Jewish racism. The French Jewish community, however, did not experience anything near this level of solidarity in defense of their rights during the latest attacks – including the murder of four Jews buying groceries at the Hyper-Cacher supermarket in January 2015 – and to other attacks on Jews and cemetery desecrations in the last three years.

Reasons for this may include an increase in anti-Jewish racism in French society and, particularly on the extreme political left, increasing hostility to minority groups in France, who are perceived as outside the mainstream of French Republican collective identity. (20) Further, the intersection of anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish sentiments and the rise of both in response to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, in which attacks on French Jews are perversely justified as legitimate expressions of rejection of Israeli government policies, may contribute to the increase.

There is also resistance by politicians and government officials to acknowledge that much of the anti-Jewish violence stems from a sector of the Muslim community for fear that such acknowledgment would only stoke anti-Muslim prejudice. 

Muslim extremists who sympathize with radical Islamist supremacist movements have perpetrated many of the attacks against Jews. Because anti-Muslim bigotry and discrimination remain prevalent in French society, there is also resistance by politicians and government officials to acknowledge that much of the anti-Jewish violence stems from a sector of the Muslim community for fear that such acknowledgment would only stoke anti-Muslim prejudice. This resistance makes it difficult to address the issue effectively and to protect the rights of France’s Jewish minority. There are, however, positive efforts to build strong relationships between the Jewish and Muslim communities in France. These are fairly small scale but could be scaled up with sufficient investment of resources by the French government. According to Allouche,

“Various organizations support projects working to foster closer links among the different cultural families that form French society. Our Foundation intensified its action in this field and supports innovative projects aiming to promote knowledge and mutual respect. The Aladdin Project and the Amitié Judéo-Musulmane de France, for instance, are working to foster intercultural dialogue and mutual understanding.” (21)

Tolerance and understanding are sometimes undermined by parts of the French media. One of the greatest challenges that the French Jewish community and the French government have not been able to address effectively is how the media transmits, sometimes unconsciously, anti-Jewish messages.

It is not only the French Jewish community that feels loneliness and is concerned about the lack of solidarity of French citizens. (23)

The French media covers the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in tendentious ways that often inflame anti-Jewish prejudices and devalue Jewish lives due to discriminatory double standards in how the Palestinian-Israeli and broader Arab-Israeli conflicts are depicted. This can manifest itself in claims, often implicit and deliberately evasive, that French Jews are responsible for Israeli government policies, the grafting of anti-Jewish stereotypes onto Israeli citizens and government officials so as to make prejudicial sentiments less obviously explicitly anti-Jewish and more socially acceptable, and the claim (again, often implicit but no less pernicious for its insidious nature) that attacking Jewish civilians and Jewish communal institutions and sites is a form of political protest rather than a criminal act and human rights violation. (22)

It is not only the French Jewish community that feels loneliness and is concerned about the lack of solidarity of French citizens. (23) In a scathing speech to the French National Assembly, the French Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, spoke powerfully and passionately about the failure of French citizens to feel sufficient indignation in response to the persecution of the Jewish population: “We haven’t shown enough outrage (…) I say to the people in general who perhaps have not reacted sufficiently up to now, and to our Jewish compatriots, that this time [anti-Semitism] cannot be accepted.” (24)

Valls explicitly recognized the feelings of “loneliness” of the French Jewish community:

Since Ilan Halimi [who was tortured and murdered] in 2006, after the crimes of Toulouse, [the murder of Jewish schoolchildren and a rabbi] anti-Semitic acts in France have grown to an intolerable degree. The words, the insults, the gestures, the shameful attacks, as we saw in Creteil a few weeks ago, which I mentioned here in the Chamber, and which did not produce the national outrage that our Jewish compatriots expected. There is a huge level of concern, that fear which we felt at the HyperCacher at Porte de Vincennes and in the synagogue de la Victoire on Sunday night. How can we accept that in France, where the Jews were emancipated two centuries ago, but which was also where they were martyred 70 years ago, how can we accept that cries of “death to the Jews” can be heard on the streets? How can we accept these acts that I have just mentioned?” (25)

Valls did not mince words on the multifarious nature of anti-Semitism and its tendency to renew itself and mutate, refusing to downplay new, political manifestations of it, which find ways to attack Jews implicitly. He deplored those who advance anti-Jewish pernicious images, slanders, tropes, and accusations, while trying to do so in insidious ways that avoid taking responsibility for their hate speech and discriminatory intent:

When the Jews of France are attacked France is attacked, the conscience of humanity is attacked. Let us never forget it.”

“There is a historical anti-Semitism that goes back centuries, but there is also a new anti Semitism that is born in our neighborhoods, coming through the internet, satellite dishes, against the backdrop of the loathing of the State of Israel, and which advocates hatred of the Jews and all the Jews. It has to be spelled out, the right words must be used to fight this unacceptable anti-Semitism… When the Jews of France are attacked France is attacked, the conscience of humanity is attacked. Let us never forget it.” (26)

In Manuel Valls, the Jewish community of France has found a leader who exercises leadership to defend their rights and welfare, speaking out vigorously, publicly, and repeatedly against anti-Jewish racism. (27)

Although Francois Hollande, the President of France, does not speak with the same frequency and intensity on the issue, also he has forcefully condemned anti-Jewish attacks and expressed solidarity with the Jewish community in diverse fora including addresses to the Jewish community and to the French nation as a whole. In an address at Paris’ Shoah Memorial, Hollande stated:

“You, French people of the Jewish faith, your place is here, in your home. France is your country (…) France will protect all its children and tolerate no insult, no outrage, no desecration. How in 2015 can we accept that we need armed soldiers to protect the Jews of France?” (28)

But the attacks and the desecrations continue. After vandals desecrated 300 Jewish graves in February 2015, in the worst attack on a Jewish cemetery in France in 20 years, Valls spoke out again, stating, “France is wounded with you and France does not want you to leave… France tells you again of its love, support, and solidarity. That love is much stronger than the acts of hatred, even if such acts are repeated.” (29) But the response of the French public, of French institutions, and of French citizens was weak and largely indifferent. It remains barely reminiscent of the response to the anti-Jewish attacks in 1990.

Conclusion

“The city has a responsibility to fight anti-Semitism, otherwise it will develop in the midst of it… Paris, which is home to the biggest Jewish community of Europe, needs to be a pioneer in the fight against hate so that other cities can benefit from its expertise and commitment.” (32)

The voice of Valls is often an isolated and lonely one in its appreciation of the gravity of these crimes and their damaging impact on the French Jewish community. His rhetoric and expressions of solidarity appear, unfortunately, to be exceptional. He was himself subject to anti-Jewish comments by former Socialist French Foreign Minister, Roland Dumas, who questioned why he spoke out so forcefully on anti-Jewish attacks, implying with pejorative insinuations that it was a function of Valls’ wife being Jewish. (30) Dumas stated, “He has personal influences which make him prejudiced.” (31)

To her credit, Anne Hidalgo, the Mayor of Paris, is an exception. She is the first European mayor to join an international campaign of mayors and other government officials to speak out against anti-Jewish racism: “Mayors United Against Anti-Semitism.” In commenting on these efforts and on her concerns as the mayor of France’s capital, Hidalgo stated:

“The city has a responsibility to fight anti-Semitism, otherwise it will develop in the midst of it… Paris, which is home to the biggest Jewish community of Europe, needs to be a pioneer in the fight against hate so that other cities can benefit from its expertise and commitment.” (32)

Such public acknowledgment of the problem and commitment to addressing it and securing the rights and welfare of the Jewish community is needed across France in Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Toulouse, Strasbourg, and beyond and translated into grassroots action that is supported by the French government at all levels, especially the local.

Whether or not French citizens will respond to Valls’ critique and his plea for greater solidarity with the French Jewish community and defense of the democratic values and laws of France remains to be seen. Anti-Jewish attacks and discrimination will only substantially lessen when French society, and French civil society in particular, demonstrates convincingly and comprehensively that it rejects these attacks and such discrimination. French society will need to show a willingness to protect the civil, political, and human rights of France’s Jewish citizens alongside all French citizens.

 

•     •     •

Citation

Schimmel, Noam. “The ‘Loneliness’ Of French Jews: French Responses To Anti Jewish Racism, Bigotry, And Discrimination” In Shifting Paradigms, edited by Johannes Lukas Gartner, 88-99. New York: Humanity in Action Press, 2016.

Acknowledgments

The author and editor thank Fabrice Teicher for his dedicated efforts in reviewing earlier versions of this article.

References

  1. See: “Antisemitism – Overview of Data Available in the European Union 2004-2014,” European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, Oct. 2015, accessed Apr. 6, 2016, http://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/ files/fra_uploads/fra-2015-antisemitism-update_en.pdf. Kim Hjemlgaard, “Anti-semitic Violence Surged Worldwide 40% Last Year,” USA Today, Apr. 16, 2015, accessed Apr. 6, 2016, http://www. usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/04/15/jewish-anti-semitic-attacks-western-europe/25807273.
  2. As of the date of this article’s publication, the most recent attempted murder of French Jews was a series of stabbings against a rabbi and several synagogue congregants in Marseille on Oct. 24, 2015. For descriptions of how Jewish individuals feel in the context of a growing anti-Jewish climate in France see: Marion Von Renterghem, “From Auschwitz to Charlie Hebdo: The Perils of Being Jewish in France,” The Guardian, Mar. 6, 2015, accessed Apr. 6, 2016, http://www.theguardian.com/ world/2015/mar/06/jews-france-antisemitism-charlie-hebdo. Natasha Lehrer, “The Threat to France’s Jews,” The Guardian, Jan. 15, 2015, accessed Apr. 6, 2016, http://www.theguardian.com/news/2015/ jan/15/-sp-threat-to-france-jews. Jon Henley, “Antisemitism on Rise Across Europe ‘in worst time since the Nazis’” The Guardian, Aug. 7, 2014, accessed Apr. 6, 2016, http://www.theguardian.com/ society/2014/aug/07/antisemitism-rise-europe-worst-since-nazis. David Brooks, “How to Fight Antisemitism,” The New York Times, Mar. 24, 2015, accessed Apr. 6, 2016, http://www.nytimes. com/2015/03/24/opinion/david-brooks-how-to-fight-anti-semitism.html.
  3. Economic factors also influence decisions to leave France. See: Nicola Abe and Julia Amalia Heyer, “Rising Anti-Semitism: Increasing Number of French Jews Moving to Israel,” Spiegel Online International, Jan. 26, 2015, accessed Apr. 6, 2016, http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/jewish-immigration-to-israel-from-france-rising-after-attacks-a-1015014.html.
  4. Eric Conan, “Le Desarroi des juifs de France,” L’Express, Oct. 10, 2002, accessed Jan. 31, 2016, http://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/societe/le-desarroi-des-juifs-de-france_497880.html.
  5. President of FMS Philippe Allouche, Email Interview on Oct. 26, 2015.
  6. Ibid.
  7. “2014 Report on Antisemitism in France,” Jewish Community Security Service, 2014, accessed Apr. 6, 2016, http://www.antisemitisme.fr/dl/2014-EN.pdf. For an additional report on anti-Jewish racism in France see: Dominic Reynie, “L’Antisemitisme Dans L’Opinion Publique Francaise,” (The Fondapol Report, Nov. 2014), accessed Jan. 31, 2016, http://www.fondapol.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/ CONF2press-Antisemitisme-DOC-6-web11h51.pdf.
  8. Ibid.
  9. “2014 Report on Antisemitism in France,” 21.
  10. “2014 Report on Antisemitism in France,” 36.
  11. Alissa J. Rubin and Aurelien Breeden, “France Announces Stronger Fight Against Racism and Anti-Semitism,” The New York Times, Apr. 17, 2015, accessed Jan. 31, 2016, http://www.nytimes. com/2015/04/18/world/europe/france-announces-stronger-fight-against-racism-and-anti-semitism. html?_r=0.
  12. President of FMS Philippe Allouche, Email Interview on Oct. 26, 2015.
  13. Ibid.
  14. “France to Invest $107 Million in Fighting Anti-Semitism, Racism,” Haaretz, Apr. 17, 2015, accessed Apr. 4, 2016, http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/news/1.652353.
  15. Ibid.
  16. “La Lutte Contre Le Racism, L Antisemitism, el la Xenophobia,” Commission Nationale Consultative Des Droits De L’Homme, 2014, accessed Apr. 6, 2016, http://www.cncdh.fr/sites/default/files/cncdh_-_essentiels_rapport_racisme_2014.pdf.
  17. Ibid.
  18. “2014 Report on Antisemitism in France,” 37-38.
  19. Stephen Greenhouse, “Parisians Join in Protest Against Hate,” The New York Times, May 15, 1990, accessed Jan. 31, 2016, http://www.nytimes.com/1990/05/15/world/parisians-join-in-protest-against-hate.html.
  20. Thanks to Sandrine Gil for raising this point.
  21. President of FMS Philippe Allouche, Email Interview on Oct. 26, 2015.
  22. David Horowitz, “Does a Gritty Ex-Cop’s Move to Israel Symbolize the End for France’s Jews?” Times of Israel, Oct. 28, 2015, accessed Apr. 6, 2015, http://www.timesofisrael.com/does-a-gritty-ex-cops-move-to-israel-symbolize-the-end-for-frances-jews/.
  23. Other religious, racial, and ethnic communities express similar sentiments and concerns. The French government began a program of dialogue with and outreach to France’s Muslim community in the summer of 2015 in part because of substantial increases in anti-Muslim attacks across France. See: Joshua Melvin, “Hate and Extremism Not Islam Says French Prime Minister,” Yahoo News/Agence France Presse, June 15, 2015, accessed Apr. 6, 2016, http://news.yahoo.com/hate-extremism-not-islam-french-pm-114115987.html.
  24. Remarks delivered to the French National Assembly on Jan. 13, 2015. See: “‘We Haven’t Shown Enough Outrage:’ French PM Issues Blistering Denunciation of Antisemitism (VIDEO),” the algemeiner, Jan. 14, 2015, accessed Mar. 26, 2016, http://www.algemeiner.com/2015/01/14/we-havent-shown-enough-outrage-french-pm-issues-blistering-denunication-of-antisemitism-video/.
  25. Ibid.
  26. Ibid.
  27. Jeffrey Goldberg, “French Prime Minister: ‘If Jews Flee, The Republic Will Be a Failure,’” The Atlantic, Jan. 10, 2015, accessed Jan. 31, 2016, http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/01/ french-prime-minister-warns-if-jews-flee-the-republic-will-be-judged-a-failure/384410/.
  28. “Hollande Appeals to Jews, ‘France is Your Homeland,’” DW News, Jan. 27, 2015, accessed Jan. 31, 2016, http://www.dw.com/en/hollande-appeals-to-jews-france-is-your-homeland/a-18217796.
  29. “Stay in France, PM Valls Urges Jews After Attacks,” BBC, Feb. 16, 2015, accessed Jan. 31, 2016, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-31485681.
  30. Ibid.
  31. Ibid.
  32. “Paris Mayor Joins Global Anti-Semitism Initiative,” Haaretz, Oct. 7, 2015, accessed Jan. 31, 2016, http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/1.679245.