Anti-Semitism has experienced an unprecedented scale in France since the deadly raids of October 7, 2023 in Israel by Hamas. This is what reveals a note from the national directorate of territorial intelligence that franceinfo was able to consult. Anti-Semitic attacks have increased tenfold. To date, more than one in two racist attacks concerns a Jew.
Investigators identified all anti-Semitic attacks that were the subject of a complaint or report between January and June 2024. “This upward trend following the attacks perpetrated by Hamas on October 7, 2023, seems to be long-term, as a corollary of the continuing Middle East conflict”provides territorial intelligence.
Anti-Semitic attacks, insults and threats represent 58% of all racist and anti-religious attacks in the country, while Jews account for less than 1% of the population. An unprecedented level, one year after October 7.
In total, 887 anti-Semitic acts were recorded over the first six months of the year, i.e. one 192% increase over last year. Attacks on places of worship and cemeteries have doubled in one year (45 incidents in the first half of the year, compared to 25 incidents in 2023), as the fire at the end of August of a synagogue in Grande-Mottethe first violent act of an anti-Semitic nature seized by the national anti-terrorist prosecution since the Hamas attack.
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News as a catalyst
These attacks fluctuate according to current events. After the bombing of the Palestinian camp of Rafah in Gaza, which left 45 dead and 249 injured on May 27, anti-Semitic attacks increased sharply in the weeks that followed. Likewise, throughout the month of June, the territorial intelligence services collected more than 229 anti-Semitic facts, at the time of the European elections and the dissolution of the National Assembly, against a backdrop of controversies around the Middle East.
Still on the period from January to June 2024, the territorial intelligence note says more about the geographical distribution anti-Semitic acts. Half of these attacks are concentrated in Île-de-France, particularly in Val-d’Oise. The Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions are also affected, as well as the Bas-Rhin department. In Nice, since October 7, 2023, 38 anti-Semitic incidents have been recorded compared to only two in the previous months. The city is particularly exposed, just like Marseille and Sarcelles.
Worrying rise in anti-Semitism among young people
What worries investigators is the progression of anti-Semitic attacks among young people. In schools, colleges and high schools, Anti-Semitic attacks have doubled in one year. This testifies, write the territorial information, of a rejuvenation of anti-Semitism and the long-term impregnation of a segment of the population with a progressive trivialization of the most serious acts, which suggests a new record year in the census of anti-Semitic acts.
According to the Jewish Agency for Israel, 1,660 French citizens of the Jewish faith have decided to make their “aliyah”, that is to say to join the Jewish state. This is 50% more than last year at the same time.
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