Anti-Semitism Rises in France

Yesterday, the New York Times reported on the rising tide of anti-Semitism in France. Guess who is responsible for it? You guessed it, France’s Muslim population.

More and more French Jews are leaving for Israel. Others are moving out of neighborhoods that have become colonized by Muslims.

The Times reports:

…  an impassioned debate has erupted over how to address what commentators are calling the “new anti-Semitism,” as Jewish groups and academic researchers trace a wave of anti-Semitic acts to France’s growing Muslim population.

Nearly 40 percent of violent acts classified as racially or religiously motivated were committed against Jews in 2017, though Jews make up less than 1 percent of France’s population. Anti-Semitic acts increased by 20 percent from 2016, a rise the Interior Ministry called “preoccupying.”

In 2011, the French government stopped categorizing those deemed responsible for anti-Semitic acts, making it more difficult to trace the origins. But before then, Muslims had been the largest group identified as perpetrators, according to research by a leading academic. Often the spikes in violence coincided with flare-ups in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, according to researchers.

If Jews represent less than 1% of the population, Muslims represent, if I recall correctly, over 10%. This means that, as voting blocs go, Muslims have more influence on election outcomes.

We are not surprised that France has chosen to deal with the problem by ignoring it. That is, by pretending that the perpetrators are not Muslims. In so doing, it is following the fine example of nations like Germany and Sweden, which have deftly diminished the problem by rejiggering the statistics, and not mentioning the ethnicity of perpetrators.