Following the peak observed in January at the time of Israel’s intervention against Hamas, the Jewish Community Protection Service (SPCJ) and the Ministry of Home Affairs have observed the persistence of the number of anti-Semitic acts. While the number of serious acts dropped in the month following the Israeli operation, we note an increase in the number of threats versus the same period in 2008. The participants in this discussion noted the resurgence of anti-Semitism under new guises.
Brice Hortefeux mentioned the attempted arson against an ORT school in Marseilles that very day and said that an inquiry was under way. Securing the safety of Jewish buildings was also mentioned, just a few days before the start of the Jewish New Year celebrations.
Richard Prasquier spoke against the trend to excessive “communautarisme” (the term the French use to describe strong ethnic or religious identification). “It is essential, he said, that the Republic should be the overarching identity of the whole population, even if communities can express their particular sensitivity, contributing to their mutual enrichment.” Richard Prasquier was accompanied by his two vice-presidents, Ariel Goldmann and Meyer Habib, and by the General Director of CRIF, Haim Musicant.
Following this meeting, the Minister wrote to the President of CRIF to inform him that he had given instructions to his services requesting that they “give very special attention to the protection of places of worship” during the Tishri festival period that will run from 18 September to 11 October.
A few days after this meeting, three minors were arrested and admitted to having tried to set fire to the Jewish school. The three teenagers, all 13 years of age, denied any anti-Semitic content to their action. They said that they had simply wanted to play with two aerosols they had bought a few days earlier in a large store.
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