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PARIS — Survivors of Nazi atrocities joined younger Jewish activists outdoors the Paris Holocaust memorial Saturday to sound the alarm about resurgent antisemitic hate speech, graffiti and abuse linked to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
The affect of the battle is drawing growing concern in France and past. Hundreds of pro-Palestinian and left-wing activists rallied in Paris and round Britain on Saturday to name for a cease-fire, the most recent of a number of such protests in main cities world wide because the conflict started.
France is house to the biggest Jewish inhabitants outdoors Israel and the U.S., and western Europe’s largest Muslim inhabitants. The conflict has reopened the doorways to anti-Jewish sentiment in a rustic whose wartime collaboration with the Nazis left deep scars.
Some 100,000 folks marched by Paris final week to denounce antisemitism.
Esther Senot, 96, stated the Hamas terrorist assault on Israel on Oct. 7 stirred up her recollections of World Struggle II.
“Massacres like that, I’ve lived by,″ she stated on the Paris Holocaust Memorial. ”I noticed folks die in entrance of me.″
Her sister was amongst them: ”They introduced her to the gasoline chamber in entrance of my eyes,” she stated.
Most of Senot’s relations died. She survived 17 months in Auschwitz-Birkenau and different loss of life camps and made it again to France at age 17, weighing simply 70 kilos.
Senot was talking at an occasion organized by Jewish youth group Hachomer Hatzai, at which teenage activists drew parallels between what’s occurring now and the leadup to World Struggle II. They held an indication saying ”We won’t let historical past repeat itself.″
France’s Inside Ministry stated this week that 1,762 antisemitic acts have been reported this 12 months, in addition to 131 anti-Muslim acts and 564 anti-Christian acts.
Half of the antisemitic acts contain graffiti, posters or protest banners bearing Nazi symbols or violent anti-Jewish messages. Additionally they embody bodily assaults on folks and Jewish websites, and on-line threats. Most had been registered after the Hamas terrorist assault on Israel on Oct. 7, the ministry stated.
Serge Klarsfeld, a famend Nazi hunter and head of the Sons and Daughters of Jewish Deportees from France, famous that anger on the Israeli authorities’s actions usually will get combined with anti-Jewish sentiment. Whereas he’s involved concerning the present environment in France, he sought to place it in perspective.
“Definitely there are antisemitic acts (in France), however they aren’t at an pressing degree,” he stated. He expressed hope in ”the knowledge of the 2 communities, who understand how fortunate they’re to reside on this distinctive nation.”
France has residents instantly affected by the conflict: The preliminary Hamas terrorist assault killed 40 French folks, and French Protection Minister Sebastien Lecornu is shuttling across the Center East this week to attempt to negotiate the discharge of eight French residents held hostage by Hamas.
Two French kids have additionally been killed in Israel’s subsequent offensive on Gaza, in response to the International Ministry, which is pushing for humanitarian assist for Gaza’s civilians.
On Sunday, a whole lot of French leisure stars from completely different cultural and spiritual backgrounds plan a silent march in central Paris to name for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. They’ll march from the Arab World Institute to the Museum of Artwork and Historical past of Judaism.
Like France and another nations, Britain has seen protests to demand a cease-fire every weekend because the conflict started. Organizers from Palestinian organizations and left-wing teams stated rallies and marches had been held in dozens of cities and cities throughout the U.Ok. on Saturday.
Some staged sit-in protests in busy railway stations, whereas a whole lot of individuals demonstrated outdoors the north London workplace of opposition Labour Get together chief Keir Starmer. His refusal to name for a cease-fire and as an alternative to advocate a “humanitarian pause” has angered some members of the left-of-center social gathering.
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Related Press writers Angela Charlton in Paris and Jill Lawless in London contributed.
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