Richard Prasquier, the new president of CRIF, describes himself as “an activist and a fighter”. “One shouldn’t dream of being a politician but work to be heard and respected by them. The strength of my voice lies in the dignity that I shall give to my position, with the support of France’s Jews. I’m not someone who is just looking for a fight. I have to get the message across that the issues which preoccupy CRIF are systematically the issues that the people of France will also have to face.”
“Anti-Semitism is an evil that is never very far away; our struggle is permanent. It has always flourished on contemporary facts: today, in France and in Europe, these begin with the idea that Israel is a criminal state,” claims the man who, without fear of being suspected of “a double allegiance”, nevertheless makes no bones of his “very close friendship” with the Hebrew state.
He sees “restoring Israel’s image” as one of his priority tasks. “We have to deconstruct the reviled image of Israel painted by opinion makers and the Arab countries. Israel is being unjustly vilified. In the Muslim world people are trained to hate Israel and the Jews,” says Mr Prasquier. “During my campaign [for president], I perceived that the Jewish community is worried about three things: anti-Semitism, the Iranian issue and Israel’s image.”
Richard Prasquier recognises that new French President Nicolas Sarkozy “when speaking of the conflict in the Middle East, has expressed a breadth of perspective that gives us reason to hope for a new balance in France’s position” on this issue.
According to the daily “Le Monde”, Richard Prasquier will probably break from the sometimes “brutal” style of his predecessor, Roger Cukierman, who was prompt to criticise French policy when it came to the fight against anti-Semitism and France’s position with regard to Israel. “I praise the firmness he showed at a difficult moment (for the Jewish community). He has strengthened CRIF and given it an unprecedented visibility. But even if I too know how to be firm when matters of principle are at stake, my style isn’t the same,” says the newly elected president, who is considered to be more “open” than his predecessor and “not so marked” politically.
In his programme, he committed himself to opening CRIF outside the Jewish community and in particular to “non-Jewish civil society”.
Symbolically, for his first public activities, CRIF’s new president went to meet with Israel’s ambassador in Paris for a luncheon organised by KKL for Jerusalem Day and the launch of the “100% Israel” donor’s campaign launched by the United Jewish Appeal.
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