Orlando Radice @ The Jewish Chronicle:
Prominent members of the Paris community say there is a pervasive feeling that there is no future for Jewish life in France
Jews in France are in “despair” and feel so abandoned by government and society that they see no future at all for their children, prominent members of the community have said.
Speaking the day before Gilets Jaunes (Yellow Vest) rioters set fire to shops and restaurants on the Champs-Élysées, Haim Musicant, the vice-president of French B’nai B’rith, said the anti-establishment movement was the latest expression of a wave of antisemitism that has been building in French society for the past 20 years.
“It began during the Second Intifada […] Today, a poll shows us 50 per cent of Gilets Jaunes think there is a global Zionist plot. Their anger is focused on President Macron, but one of the reasons constantly given is that he worked at the Rothschild bank.”
The same conspiracy theories are found among many sections of French society, added the former director general of Crif, the French Jewish umbrella body. “The stereotypes about Jews are alive and well — Jews have money, Jews have power.
“This has not changed, even after the Holocaust,” said Mr Musicant, whose father’s entire family was massacred by the Nazis in their Russian shtetl while he was fighting with the Red Army in Berlin.
He added: “The same survey found 20 per cent of all French people also believe in a Zionist plot. We have to accept the idea that today there are several sections of society ranged against the Jews. Those include many Muslims — not all Muslims — the extreme right and the extreme left.” As a result, he said, “For 20 years Jews have been feeling like they are in a boxing match — and now they feel and now they feel they are on the ropes.”
Georges Bensoussan, a prominent historian and editor of the Shoah History Review, agreed: “There is no future for Jews in France. Lots of community leaders do not want to hear this. But you can hear everywhere people asking themselves — ‘Where should we go? When should we go?’ This is not an easy option. But they go. The majority feel that the peaceful years are finished.”
In early February this year, it was reported there had been a 74 per cent rise in antisemitic acts in France in 2017. […]
Mr Bensoussan said that while already-high aliyah had stopped rising in France — after a spike following the Hyper Cacher atrocity — there were no figures for Jews leaving to the US, Canada, Australia or the UK.
Mr Musicant said: “There is this feeling, ‘There’s nothing I can do. I’m off.’”Lire l'article complet @ The Jewish Chronicle
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