Wiesenthal Centre Alarm at French Anti-Semitic Trauma

November 16, 2023

What are the lessons learned from antisemitic chants in Paris metro?

 
Paris, Paris Metro commuters were shocked by a gang of eight youths singing hateful Hitler chants, screaming: “F-ck the Jews and their mothers, long live Palestine, yeah, yeah! F-ck the Jews and their grandmothers, we are Nazis and proud!”
 
Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, noted, “Just like the nauseating Hamas videos of elated terrorists brutalizing babies, teenagers, women and elderly on 7 October, this gang also filmed its hate and distributed it through social media. Similar chants were repeated in school corridors and at ‘pro-Palestine’ rallies...”
 
The perpetrators, between 11 and 16 year-olds, were arrested and are on trial for “glorification of terrorism, insults towards the public and incitement to hatred.”
 
Apparently, some of the youth are already known to the police for petty crimes and vandalism. The Paris Metro affair could lead up to two years and six months in prison and a heavy fine. The youngest will have to undergo a specific educational programme against hate.
 
The confluence of the extremes is at play. There seems to be growing and intermingling of glorifiers of violence, those who pledge allegiance to radical Islam, those who draw inspiration from the Nazi extermination of the Jews, and a frustrated marginalized youth, protected by the populist left, for which the "Palestinian cause" is the rallying pretext.

The common denominator of this toxic mix of extremes is antisemitism.
 
The Wiesenthal Centre urges the French judiciary to apply exemplary verdicts, and the Government authorities to take stock of these new trends and adapt its policies and ministerial guidelines to a post-7 October environment.

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 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).