Anti-Semitism in France – several recent cases

Upload: 9 March 2019, Last update: 15 March 2019

In the 21st century, discrimination and racism still exist. Recently anti-Semitism is one of the problems in Europe. This article basically focuses on the recent cases in France. (I tried to be careful of choosing words, but let me know if there are careless words.)

I often watched news of anti-Semitism on media in these days. According to the press release of Ministry of Interior in France[1], the anti-Semitism actions in France in 2018 was 541 cases increased from 311 in 2017.

There are many anti-Semite actions covered by media. Take a look at some of those cases, one is that the window of restaurant Bagelstein was sprayed the word of Juden meaning Jews in Germain.

Also, the mail boxes with the face of Simone Veil were graffitied the hakenkreuz. Simone Veil is a historical person who came back from Nazi concentration camps in 1945 and took many political positions including Minister of Health — famously she dedicated to the legislation of abortion — and the President of European parliament[2]. As of right now, those letter boxes were already recovered[3], but the immoral action is not acceptable.

As another case, Alain Finkielkraut, a French philosopher, was insulted on street on 16 February 2019[4]. The video the participants of the Yellow vests movement insulting him were on the Internet.

Not just the cases I mentioned above, anti-Semitism actions are frequently happening. What was surprising to me was that the number of those actions has increased in 2018. It’s quite far from the world where everyone respects each other, but a society more complex than Japan has been struggling with this problem.

[1]https://www.interieur.gouv.fr/Actualites/Communiques/Lutte-contre-la-haine-la-discrimination-le-racisme-et-l-antisemitisme Accessed 18 February 2019

[2]Further details available at https://www.gouvernement.fr/1927-2017-c-etait-simone-veil Accessed 8 March 2019

[3]http://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/2019/02/13/97001-20190213FILWWW00096-antisemitisme-les-portraits-de-simone-veil-restaures.php Accessed 8 March 2019

[4]http://www.leparisien.fr/politique/alain-finkielkraut-insulte-il-y-a-un-sentiment-d-hostilite-tres-fort-a-l-egard-des-juifs-et-je-paie-ma-notoriete-16-02-2019-8013555.php Accessed 8 March 2019