The alleged rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl in a suspected anti-Semitic attack has sent shock waves throughout France, and thrust concerns about anti-Semitism to the forefront of campaigning for the country’s legislative elections.
The anti-immigration National Rally party, which has tried to shed its historical links to anti-Semitism, is leading in pre-election polling and has its first real chance of forming a government, if it comes out on top of the two-round elections that end on July 7. It would be the first far-right force to lead a French government since the Nazi occupation.
Meanwhile, far-left figures have faced accusations of anti-Semitism linked to their response to Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7 last year and the ensuing war.
Photo: Reuters
Concerns came to the fore after two adolescent boys in a Paris suburb were given preliminary charges this week of raping a 12-year-old girl and religion-motivated violence, according to prosecutors.
Lawyer and Jewish leader Elie Korchia told French broadcaster BFM that the girl is Jewish and that the word Palestine was mentioned during the attack.
Hundreds of people gathered on Thursday evening around the Bastille monument in Paris to protest against anti-Semitism, in the second straight night of demonstrations.
France has the largest Jewish population in Europe, but given its own World War II collaboration with the Nazis, anti-Semitic acts today open old scars. France also has the largest Muslim population in western Europe, and anti-Muslim acts have risen over the past few years.
Politicians from all sides were quick to comment on the attack, notably after a surge in anti-Semitic acts in France since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal on X wrote that the girl was “raped because she’s Jewish,” while French President Emmanuel Macron called on schools to hold a “discussion hour” on racism and anti-Semitism.
National Rally president Jordan Bardella said that if elected he would “fight the anti-Semitism that has been plaguing France since Oct. 7.”
In the wake of reports of the attack, Bardella announced that his party was withdrawing support for one of its candidates over an anti-Semitic message on social media posted in 2018.
His predecessor as party president and the National Rally’s 2022 presidential candidate, Marine Le Pen, accused the “extreme left” of “stigmatization of Jews” and of “instrumentalizing” the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Leftist leader Jean-Luc Melenchon denounced “anti-Semitic racism,” though the France Unbowed party which he formerly led has itself faced accusations of anti-Semitism linked to the Israel-Hamas war.
Arie Alimi, lawyer and vice-president of the League of Human Rights, called for a united front against the far right.
“For some time now there is an awareness that there is anti-Semitism also on the left and that we need to address it,” he said at Thursday’s demonstration. “Today it’s the camp of the left, of progressives that is gathered with all people who are worried by anti-Semitism and all kinds of racism in France, in a particular political moment with a far right that could possibly come to power.”
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