Exclusive: Signs of Antisemitism in France — An Insider’s View
Professor Francine Masliah, a member of the Advisory Board of the “Memorial de la Shoah”, provides an overview on the state of antisemitism in contemporary France that is extremely informative.
Francine Masliah. © P. Himsel
One has to realize that France is culturally antisemitic and against every manifestation of difference. I am referring to the average middle class which has always had problems of its own and has really never cared about the Jews except in times of great crises. Then this indifference morphs into total dislike and sometimes worse.
The more educated classes can be antisemitic by tradition. I am thinking of all the old anti-Dreyfus families along with old style and traditional Catholics who maintain a great deal of influence among these entrenched families. These individuals were completely against the Church Repentance, opposed the modernization of Catholicism, and who have always conducted mass in Latin.
Two other powerful groups are the media and the very strong young Arab population: The right and center right newspapers generally report responsibly and dare to use the word antisemitic when young Jews are attacked, albeit more and more carefully lately. Other media talk about youth gangs having rival interests, such as the media fallout after the attack of September 6th when three Jewish youths were seriously injured by a group of five Arabs. This occurred in the 19th neighborhood, which has a very high proportion of Jewish residence along with Arabs and African Muslims.
This has to be examined for two reasons: First of all, the young Jews, growing up with young Arabs “full of hatred” (a word often used by the young Arabs' parents to somehow justify their violence aimed at the French society as a whole) are trying to fight back and are vowing not to bow to aggression anymore. But these areas are also plagued with drug-problems, which may be advocated as another type of explanation of the aggressive behavior. Nonetheless, the three young Jews who were attacked in September were simply going to the Synagogue and wearing kippot. Unfortunately, this new type of explanation (“gang-rivalry”), put forth even by Jewish commentators, is being supported by politicians who want to avoid a repetition of the serious series of attacks which took place a couple of years ago and has actually never stopped since the Intifada.
Nevertheless, one also has to mention positive developments: The national government of France and the mayors of such troubled mixed neighborhoods do support and pay,(occasionally in full), for regular trips of pupils aged 14 to 18 to Auschwitz every year. This included preparation and follow-up sessions. Proportionally, there have been few incidents of pupils showing disinterest or cynicism thus far.
The last remark I would like to make, based on my familiarity with the young Arab students I teach who come from some of the old French colonies, is that the younger generations are brought up with strong belief that the only reliable people are their Imams. These are the Imams who speak freely about the “Jews killing the Arabs”, and don’t differentiate between Jews and Israelis.
Of course, all I am writing here is nothing really new. But we have to think hard about ways of fighting this evil.
Francine Masliah is a member of the Advisory Board of the “Memorial de la Shoah”, the central French memorial for the victims of the Holocaust situated in Paris. She works as a Professor at Université Paris XIII, Paris and specializes in media, area and Arab studies.
