Emmanuel Macron wants to take action against anti-Semitism in French schools
French President Emmanuel Macron called on Education Minister Nicole Belloubet to “organize a discussion in all schools on the fight against anti-Semitism and racism in order to prevent hate speech from entering schools with serious consequences.”
Belloubet said on social media that the crime against the victim was heinous and the response to this “barbarism” was “justice, school, republic”.
French Jewish groups expressed outrage on Tuesday after reports emerged that a 12-year-old girl was raped because she was Jewish.
The activist group Collectif Nous Vivrons called for protests on Wednesday in response to a report in the newspaper Le Parisien that boys aged 12, 13 and 14 had been arrested for beating and raping the victim last Saturday because she had hidden her religion from her ex-boyfriend, one of the suspects.
“Why aren’t you on the streets yet?” asked the group of activists. “Because you’ve become accustomed to anti-Semitic crimes! When will you finally wake up?”
In a statement issued by the Conference of European Rabbis on Wednesday, French Chief Rabbi Haim Korsia blamed radical left-wing parties for the rise of anti-Semitism in the country. He sharply accused the left of denying the atrocities of October 7, adding: “Instead of calming the situation on the streets, they are fuelling anti-Semitism, which leads to cases like the current rape scandal.”
Rise of anti-Semitism in France
“This shocking case joins a long line of violence that French Jews have experienced in recent months. We are witnessing an alarming increase in the number of anti-Semitic statements across France. While in a normal year we usually saw around 400 cases of violence against Jews, in the three months following October there were nearly 1,600 cases,” Korsia said. “Jews are being persecuted, raped, beaten, ostracized and branded. We are no longer just fighting for the legitimacy of the State of Israel, to protect its security; we are fighting to protect Jews around the world.”
The Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF) called on the authorities on Wednesday to shed more light on the circumstances and the anti-Semitic motive. The European Jewish Congress joined the call for more information and said its “thoughts are with the victim and her family.”
The Union of Jewish Students in France also offered support, saying on X that “hatred of Israel leads to unsustainable anti-Semitic violence. Those who deny this are responsible.”
According to Le Parisien, investigators found anti-Semitic comments and a picture of a burning Israeli flag on the ex-boyfriend’s cell phone. A second minor reportedly told police that he beat the girl because she made negative comments about “Palestine.”
The Fondation des Femmes said on social media on Wednesday that the sexist and anti-Semitic crime had shocked the women’s rights organization.
“Rape is a tool of destruction in the service of hatred, and when children rape other children, society as a whole must ask itself about its responsibility in the face of violence, anti-Semitism and misogyny within its own four walls,” the foundation said.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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