AFP
Anti-Semitic rape: gathering in Courbevoie in support of the young victim
A few hundred people, according to an AFP journalist, gathered on Friday in front of Courbevoie town hall in support of the 12-year-old girl who was the victim of an anti-Semitic rape, which aroused strong emotion in the Jewish community and beyond.Several political figures, including government spokesperson Prisca Thevenot and the president of the Ile-de-France region Valérie Pécresse, participated in the rain in this gathering, organized at the call of mayor of this commune in Hauts-de-Seine, Jacques Kossowski. “This gathering was only done for this young girl and her family,” declared the councilor, sheltering under an umbrella. “Courbevoie is still a calm town. I couldn’t imagine that this could happen. These are monsters who did this,” he added. The young victim was the victim last Saturday in this town of suburb northwest of Paris a rape perpetrated by teenagers who called her a “dirty Jew” and threatened her with death. Two 13-year-old boys were indicted and imprisoned on Tuesday, notably for gang rape , death threats, insults and violence of an anti-Semitic nature. A third, aged 12, placed under the status of assisted witness for the rape and indicted for the other offenses, was the subject of a provisional educational measure .For the president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (Crif) Yonathan Arfi, present at the gathering in Courbevoie, it is urgent to “sound the alarm” and “send a message to French society” in the face of anti-Semitism. “The explosion of anti-Semitic acts in our country since October 7 (with quite impressive figures: more than 1,000% in the last quarter of 2023, more than 300% at the start of 2024) must stop,” he declared. We must look at this phenomenon with clarity if we want to combat it effectively,” implored Mr. Arfi. A feeling shared by Gérald Nussbaum, a resident of western Paris, who said he was “very touched” and “disgusted” by the rape of the young girl: “Anti-Semitism, racism, the opposition of the extremes will cause our society to explode (…) that questions me a lot in relation to our life in this country, whether we are Jewish or not”. This fifty-year-old of Jewish faith says he is particularly worried about “a climate of insecurity (for the Jews of France, NLDR) which plays into the hands of some”: “I pay attention to my family, I pay attention to what I can wear and where I wear it,” he admits. In Nice, nearly 400 people gathered at the call of Mayor Christian Estrosi, who has been flying the Israeli flag for months at the hotel town. Yaële Lerner, 67, retired interpreter, came with an Israeli flag on her shoulders. “But I didn’t wear it to cross the city. It pains me but I’m pushing all our young people to go to Israel, we no longer have a choice, it has become too dangerous” in France, believes she said. “France must apologize to this 12-year-old child because it did not allow her to keep her innocence,” demanded Jérôme Culioli, the local representative of Crif, for his part, wanting to believe that France was “going to catch up”.dho-vwm/iw/ol/gvy
