MP Aymeric Caron announced on August 27, 2024 that he had contacted the Paris Public Prosecutor to report comments by the Chief Rabbi of France, Haïm Korsia, which he describes as “apology for war crimes in Gaza.” His complaint is based on an interview with the Chief Rabbi on BFMTVin which he spoke about the situation in Gaza.
In the interview, Haim Korsia called the civilian deaths in Gaza “an act of war that is Hamas’s responsibility,” saying, “I have absolutely no reason to be ashamed of what Israel is doing in the way it conducts the fighting.” The chief rabbi added that he was not “uncomfortable with a policy that consists of defending its citizens,” attributing responsibility for the civilian casualties to Hamas.
These statements immediately provoked a strong reaction from Aymeric Caron, a member of parliament affiliated with the LFI-NFP. On his X account (formerly Twitter), Caron accused the chief rabbi of supporting an “ongoing genocide in Gaza”, thus intensifying the debate around this sensitive issue.
The controversy has not failed to provoke reactions in other circles. The president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF), Yonathan Arfi, gave his “support” to Haïm Korsia, calling him “more republican than all the LFI deputies”. He, in return, accused Aymeric Caron of betraying “day after day the values of the Republic by stirring up divisions and hatred”, thus illustrating the deep divisions that this conflict generates within French society.
