Anti-semitic attitudes in France : New insights

Anti-semitism in France : Facing reality

For more than 10 years, the Jews of France have been living in a state of anxiety. They no longer recognize France, the Republic they love, the country of human rights and of universalism. They see the resurgence of a dark side of the French experience that they had thought was eradicated forever.

Anti-semitism is again showing its violent face. Over the course of the past decade France had never had less than 400 anti-Semitic acts a year, including the brutal murder of Ilan Halimi by the "gang of Barbarians "in 2006 and the massacre at the Ozar Hatorah school in Toulouse in 2012. And then there was the outrage in May in neighboring Belgium, where yet another Frenchman, Mehdi Nemmouche, committed atrocious murders. Anti-semitic speech is taking more and more space in the public sphere, as sadly revealed by the "Dieudonné affair."

This anti-Semitic "stand up comedian" expresses and widely disseminates insulting and hurtful remarks to incite hatred. In France, Jewish community leaders and concerned politicians had to work hard to get the reality of antisemitic violence recognized. But today, the warning signals are on everywhere in Europe.

To simply admit the problem is not enough anymore. It is time to break out of the defensive mode and act. In order to do so effectively we must identify the sources of anti-semitism in France. Political action in the battle against anti-semitism cannot be solely based on assumptions.

With this in mind, the American Jewish Committee, the Jean Jaurès Foundation, and the Foundation for Political Innovation (Fondapol) held a seminar on the topic to to gain a better understanding of the sources of anti-Semitism in France and to develop clear policy recommendations. Afterward, Fondapol with the survey institute IFOP, conducted two unprecedented opinion surveys of French attitudes toward Jews.

The first was an online, self-administered survey of 1,005 people, and the second consisted of face-to-face interviews with 575 people over age 16 who said they were born to a Muslim family. The results give cause for grave concern. One-quarter of French people think that Jews have too much power in the economy and in finance; 22 percent say that Jews have too much power in the media; 35 percent are of the opinion that Jews use their status as victims of the Holocaust in their own interest; and 16 percent think there is a global Zionist conspiracy. Even worse, 14 percent of French people consider the attacks against the Jewish community that took place during the summer --including the targeting of synagogues and Jewish-owned shops, and the shouting of vile antiSemitic slogans during anti-Israel demonstrations -- understandable.

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