The roots of the ongoing riots in France are in areas where antisemitism, among other hatreds, are rampant, French-Israeli lawmaker Meyer Habib warned on Saturday.
“This looks like an Intifada in the heart of France,” Habib said. “France is on fire, with 249 police officers injured. Nothing, not even the dramatic death of a young man justifies this chaos.”
According to Habib, “in these lost areas of the republic, for years there has been an undisturbed growth of hatred of France, white people and Jews.”
Habib contrasted the response to the killing of a 17-year-old by a police officer, which sparked the riots, to the murder of 65-year-old Jewish woman Sarah Halimi, who was murdered in her home in 2017 by a man who shouted “Allahu Akbar” while attacking her.
“Sarah Halimi was beaten for 20 minutes in front of 20 police officers. Her murderer is practically free and no one rioted or burned anything,” said Habib, who holds a seat in parliament representing French expats living in the Eastern Mediterranean region, including Israel.
Holocaust memorial in Paris vandalized by rioters
The Holocaust memorial site in Paris, known as The Memorial to the Martyrs of the Deportation, was vandalized by rioters on Friday amid the large wave of anti-police protests, according to reports by The Jewish Chronicle and Algemeiner.
“The Memorial to the Martyrs of the Deportation in Nanterre honors the 200,000 people who were sent from Vichy France to German concentration camps during WWII,” tweeted the Combat Antisemitism Movement.
Video footage of the incident shows rioters shouting and writing anti-police slogans on the wall of the site.
It is truly horrifying to witness the Memorial to the Martyrs of the Deportation in Nanterre being vandalized.This shameful act of disrespect for the memory of the victims of the Holocaust must be unequivocally condemned and those responsible held accountable. pic.twitter.com/B0HT3L9TiF
— European Jewish Congress (@eurojewcong) June 29, 2023
“The vandalization of this monument desecrates the memory of the victims of the Nazis. Amid the social unrest currently roiling France, Holocaust memorials must be respected and protected,” said the Combat Antisemitism Movement.
According to Algemeiner, during a protest on Thursday a man tried to set fire to a French flag that flew over the monument, but not before being pulled away by other protesters.