The year 2023 was marked by “a significant increase” in anti-Semitism and rejection of immigration, particularly on the far right, notes the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights (CNCDH) in its report annual published this Thursday, June 27.
The year 2023 was marked by “a rise in identity tensions” et “a significant progression” of anti-Semitism and the rejection of immigration, affirms the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights (CNCDH) in its annual report published this Thursday, June 27. But the institution specifies that “the French remain above all concerned about the socio-economic issues linked to rising inflation”in what constitutes the 37th wave of its “racism barometer”.
However, the report notes “a significant deterioration in the perception of immigration” with a decline in the tolerance index for the second consecutive year, after several years of increases. “2022 had witnessed the end of this dynamic. This year, we are even seeing the beginning of an ebb with a rise in identity tensions on numerous indicators”adds the report.
Thus, 56% of French people (+3 pts) believe that“there are too many immigrants in France”and 51% (+3) that“Today in France, we no longer feel at home like we used to”. For the CNCDH, this rejection is “closely linked to the rejection of a France perceived as being increasingly multicultural”. The part of the French believing that “foreigners should have the same rights as French people” fell 5 points to 52%.
In a landscape where “certain prejudices remain strongly anchored”the Roma are the most stigmatized minority, and Muslims are seen in a divisive way: 32% have a «opinion positive» of the Muslim religion, and 32% a bad one.
Anti-Semitism on a “clear resurgence” in the wake of the conflict in the Middle East
The report also devotes a large space to anti-Semitism, emphasizing that the context of the conflict in the Middle East seems “to have had a significant impact” about it. “The year 2023 was marked by a very high number of anti-Semitic acts” et “in clear resurgence” after the Hamas attacks in Israel on October 7, underlines Jean-Marie Burguburu, the president of the CNCDH, in the report. The Ministry of the Interior recorded 1,676 anti-Semitic acts in 2023, “four times more than in 2022”and in the first quarter of 2024 the increase reached 300%.
This violence “fuel the idea that anti-Semitism, in its most brutal forms, is back”estimate researchers cited in the report, who are attempting, on the basis of a detailed barometer, to draw up an inventory, between “old and new anti-Semitism”.
First observation, there is “old stereotypes, specific to Jews, and a reflection of their long history, which resist and even progress” : belief in excessive power, supposed relationship with money, suspicion of dual allegiance to Israel and France… This “old anti-Semitism” stay “more marked on the right than on the left” and he “continues to break records on the right and more particularly on the far right”adds the text.
In the wake of the Israel-Hamas war, the debate “has focused on the emergence of a new anti-Semitism, no longer attributed to the extreme right but to radical Islamism and more broadly to Muslims”, notes the text. The subject heated up with the campaign for the European elections, while LFI placed support for the Palestinian cause at the heart of its campaign, and continues before the legislative elections.
“To say that anti-Semitism has migrated to the far left is completely false”
For the researchers cited by the CNCDH, “there is anti-Semitism on the left, particularly on the left of the left, among those close to the rebels and EE-LV in particular”but at one level «without comparison with that observed on the far right and among those close to the National Rally”estimates the text. “To say that anti-Semitism has migrated to the far left is completely false”insists the general secretary of the CNCDH, Magali Lafourcade.
The CNCDH recalls that anti-Semitism has always existed on the left in France, associating Jews with big capital in the 19th century, until the Dreyfus affair which “marks a turning point”. “But since the Six-Day War [en 1967, ndlr], the occupation and colonization of Palestinian territories, under the cover of legitimate criticism of Israel and Zionism, sometimes encourage shifts”, adds the text. The survey included for the first time a question linked to anti-Zionism: given the few people wishing to comment, the report estimates «difficile» to see “the key source of contemporary anti-Semitism”.
In this degraded climate, “the good news is that there have never been so many French people who believe that a more vigorous fight against anti-Semitism is necessary”, says Magali Lafourcade. The manager, however, deplores “very wait-and-see position” of the executive on the subject, since the report is published without hand delivery. “This is the first time in 34 years that the government has not responded to our requests for a meeting”she laments.
The survey was carried out by Ipsos from November 21 to December 9, 2023, with a sample of 1,210 people representative of the population and constituted using the quota method. “His observation remains valid because it is part of long series, which have existed since the 1990s”explained Magali Lafourcade.
