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Antisemitism: 34% of Jews in France feel threatened

2020-01-20T19:22:06.945Z


Mockery, insults, assaults… According to an unpublished Ifop study for Fondapol and the American Jewish Committee that we are revealing, the daily


These figures will not leave Emmanuel Macron indifferent, as he begins his first official visit to Israel on Thursday on the occasion of the fifth World Forum on the Shoah and the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. According to a new study conducted by the Ifop institute, the results of which we are revealing, a third (34%) of French people of Jewish faith or culture declare that they feel regularly threatened, because of their religious affiliation. To compare with a modest 8% in the French population in general.

This is the first, edifying lesson from this radiography commissioned by the Foundation for Political Innovation and the American Jewish Committee. "French society is facing a surge in anti-Semitism," warns Dominique Reynié, director of Fondapol. The facts are there, with 541 acts recorded in 2018, against 311 in 2017, a jump of 74%. In early December, a hundred graves were desecrated with swastikas in an Alsatian Jewish cemetery. "Since the early 2000s, we have not managed to go below 350 acts per year," notes Simone Rodan, president of AJC France. And these are only the duly declared facts.

Methodology: study carried out by Ifop for the Foundation for Political Innovation (Fondapol) and the American Jewish Committee (AJC). Conducted with a sample of 505 French people declaring themselves of Jewish faith or having at least one parent of Jewish faith or culture, extracted from a total of representative samples of 33,670 people. Interviews conducted online and face-to-face from October 14 to November 19, 2019.

However, according to this Ifop barometer, seven out of ten French Jews confess that they have already been victims of an anti-Semitic act. Almost two-thirds (64%) report having been verbally assaulted at least, whether as mockery or name-calling, and almost a quarter (23%) have been physically assaulted, slapped, punched or shoved. Facts that most often take place in the street and on public transport, but also, more worryingly, in schools or at work.

The most worrying element of the barometer? The youngest are the most concerned: 43% of French Jews under the age of 35 admit to feeling threatened in their daily life. "And if nothing is done, these 43% will become the figure for all age groups combined in a few years", warns Dominique Reynié. 18-24 year olds appear dangerously overexposed: 84% state that they have been subjected to an anti-Semitic act; 79% verbal aggression; and even 39% physical assault. "Spectacular proportions, which show that this phenomenon is rising," concludes the political scientist.

"An index of social ill-being"

To protect themselves, the Jews of France multiply what the study calls "invisibility strategies" in order to blend in with the masses. We avoid certain streets or certain neighborhoods (43% of respondents). We renounce to display symbols of religious affiliation, for example affixing a mezuzah ( Editor's note: case containing a religious parchment ) on his door (37%). A third also resigned themselves to not wearing any visible sign of dress, such as the kippah (33%). A quarter, finally, prefer to keep their religion quiet at work. "Not to mention other avoidance strategies, which are not measured by the study, such as avoiding using the words Jewish or Israel in public," adds Simone Rodan of the American Jewish Committee France.

The only element of optimism in this gloomy diagnosis, an awareness seems to be emerging in the French population in general, probable fruit of the tragedies which have mourned both the Jewish community and the national community. It was Mohammed Merah who killed Jews and soldiers in 2012. It was the Charlie Hebdo massacre in January 2015, followed by the hostage-taking of the Hyper Cacher at the Porte de Vincennes.

As the Chief Rabbi of France Haïm Korsia notes, "what is happening to us is an indication of the ill-being of society". If 72% of French Jews interviewed by Ifop say they feel concerned by a resurgence of anti-Semitism, this is also the case for 73% of citizens in general. "A note of hope," concludes Simone Rodan, while there were more than 7,000 departures ("alya") to Israel in 2014.

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Final warning, however, to the government. The Jews of France do not turn to the executive when they feel threatened. In their overwhelming majority (77%), they first trust associations (CRIF, Consistory), the police (60%), before the Head of State (47%) and the government (41 %).

Source: leparis

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