Wiesenthal Centre Reveals the Political Face of French Antisemitism

June 8, 2022

Paris - The beating in Strasbourg, France, of a Jewish man sticking posters of his wife, a candidate for the centre-right Republican Party (LR), in the forthcoming legislative elections, is now politicized.

 

The victim, 41 year old Liron Rozenhaft, reported to the police that he was followed by men, who began tearing down the posters and then attacked him.

 

The Mayor of Strasbourg, Green Party (EELV) Madam Jeanne Barseghian, condemned the violence, with no mention of antisemitism.

 

A source close to the municipality informed the Wiesenthal Centre that her party - and the new left coalition (NUPES) - relies on the Muslim vote and would thus apparently downplay the event and hope that the affair be treated only after the election second round (19 June).

 

In a conversation with Dr. Shimon Samuels, the Centre’s Director for International Relations, the source added that, “noone present has apparently come forward as witness to the aggression, thus the victim’s statement of antisemitism is, so far, still reported as hearsay. The police are searching for CCTV evidence in order to determine the case.”

 

At the same time, the police arrested four neo-Nazis, who had accumulated 41 guns, including assault rifles, and a ton of bullets... and were intent on using them in an imminent killing spree. According to the District Attorney, they had been indoctrinated by antisemitic propaganda and were planning on “hunting Jews” at a football match in Strasbourg. The indicted neo-Nazis are from the Alsace region. 

The Police will be searching for accomplices, considering the size of the cache of weapons and ammunition. 

"Antisemitism crosses the political spectrum, from street aggressions to planned mass murder," concluded Samuels.

For further information contact Dr. Shimon Samuels at csweurope@gmail.com, join the Center on Facebook, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent directly to your Twitter feed.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).