France seeks to strike balance in Jewish, Muslim community outreach amid sharp rise in anti-Semitism
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Transcript
00:00 Well, France's Jewish population, estimated at more than 500,000, is the largest in Europe
00:05 and the third largest in the world, after Israel and the United States.
00:07 Well, since the 7th of October Hamas attacks, France has recorded more than 1,000 anti-Semitic
00:12 acts.
00:13 And one of the most high-profile incidents these last few weeks has been the Stars of
00:17 David, which appeared in paint on dozens of buildings around Paris and further afield
00:22 as well.
00:23 Well, the Paris prosecutor now says this graffiti may have been carried out on the orders of
00:27 someone outside of France.
00:29 Let's get more.
00:30 We can speak to Dr. Samuel Romani, who's an associate fellow at the Royal United Services
00:33 Institute who joins us from Oxford in the UK.
00:36 Thank you so much for joining us again, Dr. Romani.
00:39 Let's first talk about the scale of the graffiti that we've seen across certain areas of Paris
00:45 and the suburbs.
00:46 Does it suggest to you this was a solo operator or something more organised?
00:50 Well, I mean, I think there's probably a good case for it to be organised.
00:54 I think that the scale of it would point to that.
00:57 And certainly the suspicions that Russia is possibly behind it are not surprising, because
01:01 Russia likes to exploit any kind of communal and particularly ethnic and religious violence
01:06 inside Western societies.
01:08 So trying to inflame tensions with regards to anti-Semitism or Islamophobia would be
01:13 right along the lines of what Russia's active measures would look like.
01:17 I mean, have you seen the evidence and do you think it stacks up and that it tallies
01:24 with what the French authorities are saying, that this is somehow the work of an external
01:30 force?
01:31 Well, I think it's probably looking like it's the act of an external force.
01:35 I mean, obviously there is a lot of grassroots anti-Semitism that has sparked up as a result
01:41 of the events of the past month and the war in Gaza.
01:44 And we're seeing that also in my own country, in the United Kingdom.
01:48 But given the scale and the nature of it, it wouldn't be surprising that there would
01:52 be a foreign connection of some sort.
01:56 So obviously the motive, as you say, could be to try to stoke tensions in France.
02:03 I mean, could that actually work?
02:06 Well, I think that it probably could work because it would lead to certainly potential
02:12 violence between supporters of the Palestinians and also Jewish communities.
02:17 We've been seeing that kind of violence happening on a smaller scale also in the United States
02:21 and the United Kingdom.
02:22 It could also be trying to capitalise on France's tradition of street protests and unrest in
02:28 general.
02:29 For example, the Russians and the Russian state media very, very strongly cheered on
02:33 the Guillain-Barras protests earlier in Emmanuel Macron's tenure and basically have always
02:38 showcased any kind of unrest within society.
02:42 So it certainly could lead to something more serious.
02:44 And we've already seen that happening in Britain and the United States too.
02:47 And why do you think France has been so particularly singled out?
02:51 I mean, what would be the purpose behind that?
02:55 Well, I think it's because France's position on this particular conflict is quite complicated,
03:01 right?
03:02 I think that, you know, obviously early on Emmanuel Macron took quite a strong pro-Israeli
03:06 stance to the point in which he was even banning a lot of these pro-Palestinian protests from
03:12 taking place.
03:13 It was a lot harder than, for example, what we saw in Britain.
03:16 And then as time has gone on, France didn't vote with the United States and the UNGA on
03:20 the conflict.
03:21 I think that Emmanuel Macron's policies and some of the shifts that we've noticed are
03:26 reflective of polarizations, you know, and his desire to balance, align with the United
03:31 States and standing up for the Jewish community, but also appeasing and satisfying the sentiments
03:37 of the Muslim community, student groups and many others who are strongly pro-Palestinian.
03:41 Okay.
03:42 Well, thank you very much for taking the time to share that with us.
03:45 Dr. Samuel Rahmani at the Royal United Services Institute.
03:48 Thank you.
03:49 Thank you very much.