The location has not yet been revealed at the moment, but a gathering is to be held this Wednesday, November 13 in Paris, to fight against anti-Semitism, on the eve of a tense football match between France and Israel . At the initiative of this event, a right-wing international Jewish movement: Betar.
Betar plans to rally alongside the French Jewish Student Movement (MEJF). “We are scandalized by what happened in Amsterdam and by the reaction of governments,” said the president of the umbrella organization of World Betar, Yigal Brand, quoted in the press release. “We are proud Zionists and have no reason to apologize (…) We will gather on Wednesday in Paris and Thursday at the football match which is also threatened by jihadists,” he adds.
A movement in favor of “the creation of a great State of Israel”
Founded in 1923 by Zeev Jabotinsky, in Riga, the capital of Latvia, the movement was named Betar in memory of Joseph Trumpeldor, but also in a nod to an episode in ancient history. “Joseph Trumpeldor was a Russian Jewish officer in the Tsarist army, hero of the Russo-Japanese War and Zionist figure. Even today, he is a figure of courage and return to Israel,” explains Frédéric Encel, doctor in geopolitics and professor at Sciences-po Paris. The name of Betar would thus be inspired by Brit Yosef Trumpeldor in Hebrew, Joseph Trumpeldor alliance in French. And “it’s also the name of the last Jewish fortress that fell into the hands of the Romans in 135,” he continues, “so it’s a play on words. »
According to the definition given by Zeev Jabotinsky himself, “the role of Betar is extremely simple, and yet very difficult: to create the type of Jew that the people need to establish the Jewish state more quickly and more effectively,” recalls the Betar on his site.
Today, Betar is a “nationalist Jewish Zionist youth movement”, favorable “to the creation of a great State of Israel”, believes Frédéric Encel. Present in 30 countries around the world, notably in France, but also “in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Australia, Italy”, according to the site, Betar is “especially active in Israel and the United States, where Jewish communities are more important,” explains the Sciences-po Paris professor.
On its website, the movement explains that it organizes “leisure activities”, “educational programs” or “stays in Israel” for young people, but also “conferences, seminars, tours throughout the country, publications in magazines , books and much more. “It notably organizes holiday camps, a bit like summer universities organized by the youth section of a political party,” continues Frédéric Encel, who adds that in Israel, Betar organizes “a lot of marches”.
An “extremely violent” movement in the 1990s
If, officially, Betar is not politically oriented, it is “the youth branch of Likud, the Israeli political party to which Benjamin Netanyahu belongs”, according to Frédéric Encel. Can the movement be described as “radical” or “far-right”? “That’s the whole debate. If we call Likud a far-right party, then so is its youth wing, Betar. If we believe that Likud is a nationalist party, Betar is also a nationalist movement,” said the teacher.
However, in the 1990s, the movement was “extremely violent”, recognizes the specialist. In 1988, violence, attributed to several members of Betar, broke out on the sidelines of a demonstration against anti-Semitism, in the Bastille district of Paris, the INA explained in a report.
In April 2002, clashes broke out between anti- and pro-Palestinians at Orly airport during the return of José Bové, expelled from Ramallah by the Israeli authorities. At the time, the France-Palestine Solidarité association accused “Betar activists” of having “hit demonstrators with bars, stealing jackets and identity papers from young people and threatening them with death” , recalls Le Monde.
More recently, in June 2016, the interministerial delegate for the fight against racism and anti-Semitism (Dilcra), Gilles Clavreul, took legal action, following a Twitter message from Betar calling for the “murder of Arabs” after the attack in Tel Aviv, perpetrated by two Palestinians, as explained in an article in Le Figaro.
The rally planned for Wednesday comes six days after violence against Israeli football fans in Amsterdam which led Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to order the Mossad to prepare an action plan to avoid such incidents at sporting events .
