Twelve percent approve idea that Jews should quit France
Ipsos poll finds left and right vying for who is more antisemitic
Jenni Frazer is a freelance journalist
The number of young French people who think it would be a good thing if Jews left the country has doubled in the last four years, according to a shocking new poll commissioned by CRIF, the representative body of French Jewry.
In a survey published at the end of last week, entitled The French View of Antisemitism and the Situation of French Jews in 2024, researchers from the respected Ipsos company found that almost one in five young people — 12 per cent — agreed with the proposition that it would be good if Jews left the country. Four years ago that figure was six per cent
Brice Teinturier, deputy chief executive of Ipsos, told Le Point, the weekly magazine where the poll results were published, that the far left La France Insoumise supporters were “now competing with the far Right for leadership in antisemitism.”
The numbers of those who would prefer France without Jews is even higher among under-35s — 17 percent. The CRIF president, Jonathan Arfi, ascribed the high numbers to young people being “more receptive to antisemitic, Islamist, and conspiracy theories, which are invading social networks”.
Only 53 percent of French people between the ages of 18-24 felt that Jews were integrated into French society.However, 68 per cent of respondents felt they had positive or very positive relations with Jewish people, whereas only 55 percent felt they had positive relations with Muslims.
Overall, a majority of respondents felt that Jews were more attached to Israel than to France. Other stereotypes included beliefs that Jews had “powerful lobbies”, that Jews “use the Holocaust to achieve their interests”, and that Jews were too present in the banking sector. Fewer people, however, agreed that Jews controlled the French media.
Just three per cent of respondents did not agree with any listed anti-Jewish tropes.
But the survey also found that 89 percent of respondents said there was no excuse for antisemitic words or actions, and 85 per cent said that Jews were French just like anyone else.
CRIF’s Jonathan Arfi told Le Point that the far left party La France Insoumise, known as LFI, had “given antisemitism a political legitimacy”, adding: “We observe this toxic porosity between criticism of Israel and the ostracising of French Jews. The Palestinian cause becomes a licence to hate”.
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