{"id":52767,"date":"2019-02-19T20:37:47","date_gmt":"2019-02-19T20:37:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=52767"},"modified":"2019-02-19T20:37:47","modified_gmt":"2019-02-19T20:37:47","slug":"france-rallies-to-denounce-anti-semitic-insults-at-protests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=52767","title":{"rendered":"France rallies to denounce anti-Semitic insults at protests"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"\"International desk: Mass rallies are planned in Paris and other French cities Tuesday to denounce a flare-up of anti-Semitic acts which culminated in a violent tirade against a prominent writer during \u201cyellow vest\u201d anti-government protests last weekend.<\/p>\n

Political leaders of all stripes called the rallies after a protester was caught on video calling the philosopher Alain Finkielkraut a \u201cdirty Zionist\u201d
\nand telling him that \u201cFrance belongs to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finkielkraut had initially supported the yellow vest movement, before criticising the violence carried out against police forces by a fringe of
\nsuspected far-right and far-left demonstrators.<\/p>\n

Protesters also launched anti-Semitic abuse at Ingrid Levavasseur, who tried to lead a yellow vest list for coming European Parliament elections, in Paris over the weekend.<\/p>\n

President Emmanuel Macron called the insults \u201cthe absolute negation of who we are and what makes us a great nation. We will not tolerate it.\u201d<\/p>\n

His office said he would not take part in the rallies, though Prime Minister Edouard Philippe will be among several government officials at a
\nParis march starting at 7:00 pm (1800 GMT) at Place de la Republique.<\/p>\n

The yellow vest protests began last march against high fuel taxes and rising costs of living blamed on Macron\u2019s policies, which critics say favour
\nthe well-off.<\/p>\n

But officials accuse the grass-roots movement of helping unleash a wave of extremist violence that has fostered anti-Semitic outbursts among some participants.<\/p>\n

\u2013 \u2018Extremist elements\u2019 \u2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the response to the national wake-up call we urged last week,\u201d said Francis Kalifat of the CRIF umbrella group of French Jewish
\norganisations.<\/p>\n

He was referring to a spate of anti-Jewish vandalism and graffiti discovered in and around Paris in the days following another Saturday of
\nyellow vest protests.<\/p>\n

Graffiti on the headquarters of French daily Le Monde used anti-Semitic tropes to refer to Macron\u2019s former job as a Rothschild investment banker.<\/p>\n

In another incident, the words \u201cMacron Jews\u2019 Bitch\u201d was written in English across a garage door in the city centre, and the phrase \u201cJewish pig\u201d was sprayed onto a wall in the northern 18th arrondissement.<\/p>\n

But the rise in anti-Semitic acts in France predates the yellow vest movement.<\/p>\n

Last year, police recorded a 74 percent surge in reported anti-Jewish offences, causing alarm in a country that is home to the biggest Jewish
\npopulation in Europe.<\/p>\n

The government has tried to walk a fine line in condemning the recent surge in anti-Semitism while not criticising what it calls the protesters\u2019
\nlegitimate complaints.<\/p>\n

Several yellow vests have already said they plan to participate in the marches.<\/p>\n

But a recent Ifop poll of \u201cyellow vest\u201d backers found that nearly half questioned believed in a worldwide \u201cZionist plot\u201d and other conspiracy
\ntheories.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe yellow vests aren\u2019t an anti-Semitic movement,\u201d said Jean-Yves Camus of the Political Radicalisation Observatory in Paris.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s a leaderless, horizontal movement\u2026 and extremist elements have been able to drown out the voices of its high-profile figures in the media,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The marches come the day before Macron is expected to address Jewish leaders at the Crif\u2019s annual dinner.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

International desk: Mass rallies are planned in Paris and other French cities Tuesday to denounce a flare-up of anti-Semitic acts which culminated in a violent tirade against a prominent writer during \u201cyellow vest\u201d anti-government protests last weekend. Political leaders of all stripes called the rallies after a protester was caught on video calling the philosopher […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":52768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2,14],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n