vulnerability of French Jews

After the tribute paid in front of the Hyper Cacher at Porte de Vincennes, where four people were killed ten years ago by an Islamist terrorist, an evening organized by Crif and Charlie Hebdo was to be held in Paris on Thursday January 9. Meet and debate, so as not to forget Yohan Cohen, Yoav Hattab, Philippe Braham and François-Michel Saada, shot because they were Jewish. “Jew” : this is how, in astonishment, four million French people showed themselves during the Republican marches of January 10 and 11, 2015. And today?

Today, ten years to the day after the anti-Semitic attacks of January 2015, hate tags have just been discovered near the Hyper Cacher. Many of the relatives of the victims and survivors of this hostage-taking have also left France. A malaise shared by the Jewish community as a whole, more vulnerable than ever: it, which represents 1% of the French population, remains the target of more than half of racist and anti-religious attacks. In 2023, Crif indicated that the number of anti-Semitic incidents had quadrupled over one year, with 1,676 cases. The 2024 figures are unlikely to fall, fueled in particular by the reaction to the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

“What happened here ten years ago has causes that have not been resolved”assured the president of Crif, Yonathan Arfi, Thursday January 9. In 2012, four people, including three young children, were coldly executed in a Jewish school in Toulouse. By assassinating Jews, it was France that was being massacred. Despite the horror, the threat had been largely underestimated, as we know only too well today. It is time to take the full measure of it.