for 6 out of 10 French people, there are reasons to fear living in France when you are Jewish

These results should fuel this day of debates and interventions in Paris, where the Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau, the former Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve and the mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo are expected.

Unjustifiable acts for 89% of respondents

For 75% of respondents, the current conflict in the Middle East is causing a rise in anti-Semitism in France. Overall, the phenomenon is perceived as “widespread” by the vast majority of French people (79%, + 4 points compared to 2020). In this context, 64% of French people believe that there are reasons to fear living in France when you are Jewish (+14 points compared to 2020). But for only less than half of French people (47%), Jews have “no responsibility for the anti-Semitism” that exists in France. And nearly one in six French people (16%) consider that they have a “significant” or “very important” share.

According to this study, the vast majority of French people, however, are inflexible on the issue of anti-Semitic acts or words: for 89% of them, nothing can justify them.

But many anti-Semitic prejudices remain anchored, according to this study: only 3% of French people do not adhere to any of the 16 prejudices tested, a stable proportion compared to 2020. Nearly half of French people (46%) adhere to six “ anti-Semitic opinions” or more, a proportion up 9 points compared to 2020. The most common prejudice is that “Jews are very united” (89% of respondents consider this opinion to be true).

Actions on the rise

This survey – conducted from September 20 to 23 among 1,000 people, constituting a national sample representative of the French population aged 18 and over – is published in a context of an increase in anti-Semitic incidents recorded in France.

They had almost doubled in the first half of 2024, compared to the same period in 2023, with 887 incidents recorded compared to 304 a year earlier, according to figures from the Ministry of the Interior in August. In 2023, according to Crif data communicated in January, the number of anti-Semitic incidents had quadrupled over one year, with 1,676 cases.