“In the suburbs of Paris… it’s a very special mix of social insecurity, social resentment, with the emotional trigger of what’s going on in the Middle East…”
That’s just one take on what exactly is going on with the recent increase in anti-Semitism in France, according to Sciences Po research professor Nonna Mayer. Anti-Semitic acts are up 74% from the last year, numbering at 541. This is a terrifying concept considering that France has the largest Jewish population in the world after the US and Israel. While much has been done to combat these incidents, including outlawing Holocaust denial, the occasionally fascist branches of the Yellow Vest movement, as well as heavily anti-Israeli groups on the outskirts of Paris, have made eliminating hate crimes against Jewish people seemingly impossible to do in its entirety.
In this video, PBS interviews researchers, university heads, and rabbis to uncover the truth about anti-Semitism in France, and what we can do when it rears its ugly head.
