Jewish Graves Vandalized in France Ahead of March Against Anti-Semitism French leaders have strongly criticized recent attacks on Jewish people and monuments By Noemie Bisserbe
https://www.wsj.com/articles/jewish-graves-vandalized-in-france-ahead-of-macrons-march-against-anti-semitism-11550592868
PARIS—Dozens of Jewish graves in eastern France were vandalized amid a recent rise in anti-Semitic acts and days after yellow-vest protesters were filmed accosting a prominent Jewish academic.
Marches against anti-Semitism were due to take place across France on Tuesday, including one led by government ministers, as President Emmanuel Macron seeks to distance himself from the protesters who have dogged him for months.
Nazi swastikas were daubed on more than 80 graves in Quatzenheim, a small village near the city of Strasbourg, close to the country’s border with Germany, French authorities said on Tuesday, prompting a visit by the French president.
“I’m here to show the support of the entire nation,” Mr. Macron said. “We will take actions, we will pass laws, we will punish,” he added.
For several minutes, he stood silently in front of the Quatzenheim graves beside the chief Rabbi of France, Haim Korsia, who spoke a prayer. The president then took a walk around the cemetery alongside members of the Jewish community.
The vandalism is the latest in a spate of anti-Semitic acts that have triggered outrage from leaders across the political spectrum and Jewish organizations in France, home to the largest number of Jewish people in Europe.
“These repugnant acts are an insult to our country’s collective memory,” French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said in a tweet.
In December, several dozen Jewish graves were vandalized in another town near Strasbourg.
In recent weeks, many anti-Semitic incidents have also accompanied France’s yellow-vest or gilets jaunes demonstrations that began as protests against fuel-price rises and have escalated into a wider antigovernment movement.
On Saturday, yellow-vest protesters were filmed accosting Alain Finkielkraut, a prominent public academic, as he walked with his mother-in-law on the street in Paris, calling him a “dirty Zionist s—” and other insults.
Earlier this month, someone spray painted “Juden” on Bagelstein, a French chain of bagel restaurants. A Nazi swastika was also tagged on a portrait of Simone Veil, a French Auschwitz survivor, who became president of the European Parliament and who died in 2017. CONTINUE AT SITE
Comments are closed.
