at the CRIF dinner, Gabriel Attal announces that “366 incidents” were recorded in France in the first quarter of 2024, an increase of “300%” over one year

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced on Monday, May 6, that “366 anti-Semitic facts” had been recorded in France in the first quarter of 2024, i.e. “an increase of 300% compared to the first three months of 2023”.

“No one can deny this anti-Semitic wave. No one can deny the fact that it is estimated that French Jews represent 1% of the French population, but that more than 60% of anti-religious acts are anti-Semitic acts.declared the head of government in a speech delivered in the evening on the occasion of the annual dinner of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF), in Paris.

The government launched Monday “conference for the fight against anti-Semitism”, whose outbreak alarms the Jewish community. The Minister Delegate in charge of the fight against discrimination, Aurore Bergé, brought together in Paris in the morning the heads of several associations (International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism, SOS-Racism, etc.) and representatives of the six main religions to floor on the subject.

Since October 7, 2023 – the date of Hamas’ attack on Israel -, “anti-Semitic acts have exploded”affirmed the minister, deploring that “ordinary hatred, fueled by the extremes, pours out on social networks, but also in our streets, in our schools, in our universities”. For Yonathan Arfi, president of CRIF, “these meetings respond to an imperative, that public power sets civil society in motion”.

The number of anti-Semitic acts recorded in France almost quadrupled in 2023, with 1,676 recorded, compared to 436 in 2022, according to the Ministry of the Interior.

According to an IFOP survey for the French branch of the American Jewish Committee published Sunday in THE Parisian, 94% of French people of Jewish faith believe that anti-Semitism has increased over the past ten years (+21 points compared to 2022). This same survey shows that 35% of 18-24 year olds feel that it is normal to attack Jews because of their support for Israel.