You Stop the Violence, Macron

From the President’s Desk
The Anti-Semite Corner of the Week

The President of France, who sends righteous sermons about “Jewish violence” against Hamas, is the real violent one, legitimizing attacks against Jewish citizens of his country with his own words.

By: Anat Vidor, WIZO President

That morning ignited in Emmanuel Macron the same excitement that had seized him at age 15 when his 39-year-old teacher responded to his advances: Israel had taken action in Gaza, and the French President saw a golden opportunity to trigger another anti-Semitic wave. Even before his morning baguette, he declared in his patronizing manner: “France condemns Israel and demands an immediate stop to the violence.” “Violence,” according to Macron, is not the holding of 59 Israeli hostages in conditions that violate every international or human code. It’s also not the massacres in Syria or the missiles from Yemen targeting Israel, and certainly not America’s attack on the Houthis. “Violence,” according to Macron, is always committed by Jews, even if it’s an attempt to rescue tortured hostages held by a terrorist organization.

These words fell on the ears of a young man from Orléans, a “new French citizen” – that is, a Moroccan refugee who identifies as Palestinian. Now, his new country demands that Jews cease their violence, and as a loyal citizen, he sets out to settle the matter. He waited on Saturday afternoon for the city’s rabbi, who was leaving the synagogue with his 9-year-old son after prayer. What began with insults and spitting turned into a fist-and-bite attack, until passersby rescued the bloodied rabbi from the lynching. “I knew it would come,” the rabbi later testified, “I just didn’t know when and where.”

And here our camera turns back to the instigator of anti-Semitism – Macron, Prince of Andorra, who was forced to momentarily let go of the frogs from his lunch to self-righteously tut-tut: “Anti-Semitism is terrible, absolutely unacceptable. We will not tolerate anti-Semitism, we will not sit quietly – choose your preferred cliché for yourselves.” He said, and went back to sitting quietly.

This is not news. Jews are attacked in Europe, and especially in France, as a matter of routine. 61% of Jews in Macron’s France have fallen victim to anti-Semitic attacks because of their “responsibility for Israeli government policies.” According to Macron, the chief instigator, a Jew is allowed to defend himself, but politely, without upsetting the attacker, and without exceeding the basic defensive instinct of humans.

It’s hard not to notice the parallel between the attacked rabbi and Israel on October 7th. Both are allowed to survive, but preventing the next attack – absolutely not! It seems Macron has never heard of “À la guerre comme à la guerre” (“In war as in war”), or at least hasn’t considered that the expression might apply to Jews as well.

The classic anti-Semitic “orchestra” includes eccentric people from the fringes of the mental spectrum: the Swedish environmental activist, the American neo-Nazi rapper, the mentally disturbed Irish boxer, the eccentric Turkish lecturer from Istanbul University who teaches that Sinwar was Jewish, the incited Scottish mob of Celtic, the illiterate Moroccan footballers, the Eurovision blogger who compares Jews to animals and says it’s not anti-Semitism. They all suffer from ignorance, hatred, stupidity, and a natural environment of anti-Semitism; most couldn’t find Israel on a map. But Macron? He actually knows the truth, he knows the facts about a small nation surrounded by cruel enemies, that aspires with all its might for peace but is forced to fight for its survival. Macron knows the truth and chooses to stand with the lie.

But France is the last country that can preach morality to us. “We will not accept anti-Semitism” – that’s what French leaders said just before handing over their Jews to the Nazis. True – it’s easier for him to deal with violence in Gaza than with violence in Paris. It’s easier for him to condemn the Israeli occupation in Jerusalem than the French occupation in Corsica or Réunion. It’s more comfortable for him to focus on oppression in Lebanon than on what France perpetrates in New Caledonia, for example.
Still, Macron, who demands Gaza free of violence, should first deal with his own city streets. Not with words but with actions: by banning anti-Semitic demonstrations, deporting anti-Semites, demolishing houses of anti-Semites, cutting funding from organizations that support anti-Semitism, shutting down media outlets that spread anti-Semitic propaganda, and above all by stopping his own never-ending drip of anti-Semitic and violent messages. Stop the violence in your streets, Monsieur Macron, and until that happens – fill your mouth with baguette and leave us to deal with violence in our region. I demand it.