Anti-Semitic Incidents Double in France
Image by getty images
Last year saw a doubling of anti-Semitic incidents recorded in France, and a 60 percent increase Belgium.
In France, the Jewish community’s watchdog on anti-Semitism, SPCJ, recorded in 851 incidents in 2014 compared to 423 the previous year, the group reported on its Facebook page on Tuesday, International Holocaust Memorial Day.
In Belgium, the number of incidents recorded last year rose by 60 percent over 2013 to a total of 200 events, according to a report published Friday by the Le Soir daily. The number was based on data collected by the online platform antisemitisme.be, which works with Jewish and government institutions.
Belgium has approximately 40,000 Jews, while France has approximately half a million.
In both countries, the increase is attributed to attacks on Jews because of Israel’s actions during its war in Gaza last summer. In France, the figures for 2014 were slightly higher than the previous record year of 2009, which saw 832 incidents.
According to SPCJ, about half of all racist attacks in 2014 were committed against Jews, who constitute one percent of the population. SPCJ released similar figures in 2012, but France’s National Consultative Commission on Human Rights said anti-Semitic attacks accounted for only 39 percent of the overall figure of 1,539 that year.
Anti-Semitic incidents that involved violence increased by 130 percent in 2014 over 2013, according to SPCJ, reaching a total of 241 last year as opposed to 105 in 2013.
Along with major cities like Paris and Marseille, anti-Semitism was prevalent in heavily Jewish suburbs of the French capital such as Creteil and Sarcelles, SPCJ reported.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
