The number of acts of anti-Semitism recorded in France in 2024 should approach that recorded the previous year, which marked a very sharp increase, affirmed the Minister of the Fight against Discrimination Aurore Bergé, hoping that those committed at “the university and Grandes Ecoles” be taken into account.
“The increase in acts of anti-Semitism is quite spectacular (…), today the figures I have as of November 30, we were at nearly 1,500 acts of anti-Semitism,” declared Aurore Bergé on Sunday in an interview with Europe 1/Les Echos/CNews, specifying the overall figures for 2024 will be published by the Ministry of the Interior.
According to Ms. Bergé, “most of these facts are not just insults, they are acts of direct attacks on people, either because they are Jewish, or because we think that 'they are.'
Personal attacks, 63% of the incidents recorded
According to its services, personal attacks represent 63% of the incidents recorded. In 2023, according to data from Crif (Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France) communicated in January, the number of anti-Semitic incidents recorded in the country had quadrupled over one year, with 1,676 cases.
“Because now, the simple fact of defending clear, republican positions, of recalling that on October 7, there were first of all terrorist attacks perpetrated by Hamas, of quite simply supporting the families of the hostages (…) makes you a potential target of anti-Semitic attacks,” the minister said. Ms. Bergé considered that the “priority project” was that of “the university”.
Referring to “absolutely intolerable and unbearable facts”, “insults”, “attempts at intimidation”, reported “almost on a daily basis in universities or in major schools”, she affirmed: “I intend that they can be counted “.
Students “prevented from going to class”
Speaking of students “prevented from going to class” or “who will hear absolutely unbearable slogans chanted right next to them”, and of the “feeling of absolute loneliness”, she pointed out a “lack of courage from other students “.
Saying she deplored that “after the terrible attacks on October 7, instead of having a wave of support, we have a wave of anti-Semitism”, she felt that “today we are putting a target on the back of every Jewish Frenchman, because we consider that he would be co-responsible for the humanitarian situation in Gaza.”
France has the largest Jewish community in Europe, with around 500,000 people, for a total of 68 million inhabitants. The population of Muslim faith or tradition in its metropolitan territory has increased significantly since the end of the Second World War, reaching nearly 9% of the population.
