France Reels Under a Tide of Antisemitic Outrage

France, that cradle of enlightenment, now finds itself submerged in a rising flood of anti-Semitic vitriol, a grim reminder that the oldest hatreds never truly fade. The Jewish community, battered yet resilient, stands appalled at the surge of hostility targeting their institutions, their faith, and their very existence. This is no mere flare-up of prejudice; it is a calculated assault on the soul of a nation that once prided itself on liberty and fraternity.

In recent days, France has been convulsed by a series of anti-Semitic incidents, each more brazen than the last, despite the government’s impotent attempts to bolster security around Jewish sites following last month’s anti-Semitic shooting in Washington, DC. The Jewish community, weary of platitudes, now demands action, not words, as the specter of violence looms ever larger.

On Friday, in the Normandy town of Deauville, Rabbi Eli Lemel, a towering figure in French Jewry, was set upon by three s**t-faced thugs. At 3:30 pm, they descended upon him, fists raining blows to his stomach, their mouths spewing anti-Semitic slurs. 

According to local police, no arrests have been made, a fact that speaks volumes about the state’s faltering resolve. Rabbi Lemel, undaunted, called for spiritual fortitude in the face of this growing malice. “I’m deeply moved by the outpouring of support following the attack. 

Thank God, I’m okay,” he wrote on X. “I was struck and verbally abused in a language I didn’t understand.” His words carry the weight of a man who knows that silence is complicity.

In another grotesque display, a 21-year-old man, already known to authorities for prior offenses, scaled a synagogue in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, tore down an Israeli flag, and attempted to set it ablaze. The suspect, reportedly intoxicated, confessed to his crime, now facing charges of trespassing in a place of worship, theft by climbing, and causing damage to property on religious grounds. 

One wonders what emboldens such acts if not the creeping normalization of hatred in a society too timid to confront it.

The mayor of Poissy, Sandrine Dos Santos, offered her support, declaring, “[my] solidarity, as well as that of the city, toward the Jewish community directly targeted by these unacceptable antisemitic acts.” She added, “Faced with the increase in violence, our commitment against discrimination remains unwavering and will not waver. We repeat it loud and clear: no form of racism or rejection of others has a place in Poissy.” 

Stirring words, but one cannot help but question their efficacy when the streets tell a different story. It's the old "my heart goes out to them, yadda yadda."

The desecration continued unabated. In southeastern France, near Antibes, three Serbs were apprehended, suspected of defacing Jewish community buildings in Paris with green paint, an act now probed as possible foreign interference. 

Last weekend, the Paris Holocaust Memorial, three synagogues, and a Jewish restaurant were similarly vandalized, the green paint a grotesque signature of contempt. The French government, to its credit, denounced the acts, but denunciations alone do not stem the tide, action does, action with strength.

On Monday, an elementary school in Lyon, unconnected to the Jewish community, was torched and defaced with anti-Semitic and pro-Palestinian slogans, alongside the chilling emblem of the swastika. The fire, mercifully confined to outdoor bathrooms, caused minimal damage, but the graffiti, scrawled across three classrooms, reveals a deeper rot. Local police are investigating the motive, as if the intent were not plain as day, but they'll get down to the bottom of it. Gee, what could it possibly be?

Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF), minced no words: “The Palestinian cause is used as justification for burning down a school,” he declared, noting that the “Nazification of Israel serves as fuel for crass antisemitism.” 

In a searing post on X, he added, “When a populist pro-Palestinian narrative is allowed to take hold, it is French Jews who ultimately pay the price. The twisted use of the Palestinian cause is turning into a rallying cry of hatred against both Jews and the Republic itself.” His words cut through the fog of moral equivocation, exposing the ugly truth: a cause, however noble in origin, has been hijacked to fuel a vendetta against an entire people.

This contagion is obviously not confined to France. Across Europe, the same poison spreads. 

On Monday, a Jewish cemetery in a Belgrade suburb was desecrated, headstones defiled in the second such incident in Serbia in recent weeks. The pattern is unmistakable: a resurgent anti-Semitism, cloaked in modern grievances, threatens to unravel the fragile threads of civility.

France, and indeed Europe, stands at a crossroads. The Jewish community, voicing “deep concern,” sees these acts not as isolated but as part of a broader surge in hostility. They are right to do so, for when a society permits the vilification of one group, it sows the seeds of its own destruction. 

The question is not whether France will act, but whether it will act before the hatred consumes what remains of its moral credibility.

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