The JDD. Thursday November 7, around ten Israeli supporters were attacked in Amsterdam. What is your reaction?
Gilles-William Goldnadel. The word that immediately comes to mind is “pogrom.” Jews were chased down the street, some were forced to shout “Free Palestine,” others were forced to deny their Jewishness, and the last few were thrown into the water. Last night, a pogrom took place in the town of Anne Frank. Amsterdam is a place very charged in Jewish memory. There were injuries and trauma. For my part, I feel anger, sadness, bitterness. My fight against illegal and invasive immigration is part of this. Even beyond the Jewish destiny in Europe and in the world, there is the destiny of Europeans themselves. The attacks on young French people in the countryside are not of an extremely different nature. I have never decoupled the hatred of the Jew today from the hatred of the White. This has been my analysis for 20 years. The tragic events in Amsterdam reinforce this analysis.
Could this event have taken place in France?
Obviously. Do you think there is a shortage of hateful Islamists in France? Do you think that the French president who did not want to march against anti-Semitism is particularly equipped to resist this hatred? Here we have, in addition, an anti-Semitic extreme left personified by La France insoumise which openly calls in the mouth of Louis Boyard for the cancellation of the France Israel match next week. I even think that the situation in France is worse than in Holland.
Bruno Retailleau announced this Friday, November 8 that this France Israel match will take place at the Stade de France on November 14. Are you worried?
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Of course. How can you not be? Bruno Retailleau does everything he can within the framework of his responsibilities, but he is not responsible for the general situation. Canceling this match would have been a capitulation to Islamism and La France insoumise. Belgium, which is France but worse, has already given in to these pressures by organizing the Belgium-Israel match outside its territory. No one on the left understands this situation. Just this morning, Raphaël Glucksmann explained on France Inter that the danger was Trump. He himself allied himself with La France insoumise.
Do you consider that the tifo deployed at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday evening during the PSG-Atlético match is anti-Semitic? Anti-Zionist?
I have long considered that there is no longer any difference between today's anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism. Those who call themselves “anti-Zionists” are often the first not to hide their hatred of the Jew. This hatred is visible everywhere: in the streets of Paris or Amsterdam, even on American campuses where students no longer hide this hatred. This tifo is not a simple symbol of support for the Palestinians, it is a glorification of Palestinian warriors. There is not just “Free Palestine” written on this tifo which is in no way a call for peace. Paris Saint-Germain, today, is no longer the club of Parisians, it is that of Qatar. I in no way believe in the fable in which this tifo arrived alone. This event shows to what extent a part of immigrant youth is corrupted by a “Palestinism” which is far from advocating living together.
The word that immediately comes to mind is “pogrom”
How do you explain the importance of the conflict in the Middle East in the world of football?
The world of football is itself partly embodied by young people from the suburbs. It is not surprising that this environment is permeated with hatred of Israel and the Jew. Furthermore, football fans are generally not characterized by their finesse and subtlety. It is in football that we find expressions of violence that we do not necessarily see elsewhere. If you're looking for a manifestation of hatred, you're more likely to see it in the stands of a stadium than at an angling competition. This is a sociological reality that should not be ignored.
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