As figures published Tuesday showed the number of anti-Semitic acts in France had doubled in 2014, French President Francois Hollande promised to protect the Jewish community from anti-Semitism and told them: "Your place is here".
Speaking at the Shoah Memorial in Paris during a ceremony marking 70 years of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp, the president also said that ‘’'Anti-Semitism has changed its face, but has not lost its ancient roots,' , explaining that today it ‘’it is also fed by the hatred of Israel.’’
He paid tribute to the 76,000 Jews deported to the Nazi death camps from France under the collaborationist Vichy regime and denounced ‘'a crime so vile that he had no name.’’
"You, French people of the Jewish faith, your place is here, in your home. France is your country," Hollande said in his speech in response to the fact that the recent Paris attack against a kosher supermarket and previous anti-Jewish attacks have led a growing number of French Jews to question their future in France.
Some 7,000 Jews left France for Israel last year, more than twice as many as in 2013 and the largest number since Israel's birth in 1948.
In his speech, Hollande announced strengthening sanctions against racism and anti-Semitism would be announced.
He assured that the government had taken "appropriate measures to protect synagogues, shops, schools , cultural centers of the Jewish community.’’
The government will by the end of February announce a comprehensive plan to fight racism and anti-Semitism, he said.
In 2014, the number of anti-Semitic acts recorded on French territory doubled from 423 in 2013 to 851 in 2014, an increase of 101%, according to figures published by the Protection Service of the Jewish community (SPCJ) in its annual report in close cooperation with the Interior Ministry.
The number of violent actions rose from 105 in 2013 to 241 in 2014, an increase of 130%, ‘’which represents a very significant and very worrying increase in violent anti-Semitic acts,’’ says CRIF, the representative group of French Jewish organisations.
These anti-Semitic acts represent 51% of the total of racist acts in France while the Jews represent only less than 1% of the French population, CRIF said.
According to the president of CRIF, Roger Cukierman, ‘the critical point has been largely exceeded’’. ‘’I hope that powerful and strong measures will be taken in the areas of prevention, protection and education. ''