World Jewish News

Jewish leaders praise French President Macron for stating that anti-Zionism is a renewed form of anti-Semitism

French President Emmanuel Macron’s statement at a commemorating event in Paris that anti-Zionism is a renewed form of anti-Semitism was well received by the Jewish community worldwide.

At a ceremony at the Vel d’Hiv Holocaust memorial monument marking the 75the anniversary of the roundup by French police officers of 13,152 Jews for deportation to Nazi death camps, the 35-minute, Macron made an address that was welcomed by big applauses by the audience.

Addressing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom the French President had invited, Macron assured him and listeners that “we will continue our fight against terrorism and the worst kinds of fanaticism,” adding: “So yes, we will never surrender to the expressions of hatred; we will not surrender to anti-Zionism because it is a reinvention of anti-Semitism.”

Articulated in recent years by former French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, Macron’s statement was the first time an incumbent president in France equated anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism. It triggered several emotional yelps from the audience and applause so vigorous, it caused the tarp strung up over the monument plaza for security reasons to vibrate.

World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder on Monday applauded and thanked French President Emmanuel Macron for denouncing anti-Zionism as a ‘renewed form of anti-Semitism’, and for his pledge to ‘never surrender to the messages of hate’.

“At a time of resurging anti-Semitism across Europe, including in France, the World Jewish Congress is encouraged by President Macron’s recognition that anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism are two sides of the same coin,” World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder said in a statement.

“It has become all too normative and acceptable for anti-Semites to hide behind the so-called politically correct curtain of criticizing Israel, and Jewish communities around the world are suffering the effects. Anyone who challenges the Jewish right to self-determination is an anti-Semite, and anyone who believes that it is even remotely acceptable to lash out at Jews amid criticism of the Jewish state is an anti-Semiten,’’ he added.

“Thank you, President Macron for your pledge to protect the Jewish community of France against messages of hate. I trust that you will fulfill this commitment to fighting anti-Semitism in both its traditional form and in its new manifestation of anti-Zionism.

“Europe as a whole is contending with the rise of global terror, coupled with a dangerous atmosphere of xenophobia. We must do everything in our power to curb the violence and incitement, and ensure that all communities in Europe, large and small, are able to live under the values of liberty and justice that makes European society so strong,” Lauder concluded.

In the US Senate, Minority Leader Charles Schumer also warmly applauded the French President’s declaration.

“I’d like to applaud the French President Emmanuel Macron for his comments over the weekend about antisemitism,” Schumer said in a floor speech.

Schumer explained that “anti-Semitism is a word that has been used throughout history when Jewish people are judged and measured by one standard and the rest by another.”

“So it is with anti-Zionism; the idea that all other peoples can seek and defend their right to self-determination but Jews cannot,” the New York Democrat said. “That other nations have a right to exist, but the Jewish state of Israel does not.”

Schumer blasted the BDS (Boycott,Divestment, Sanctions) campaign targeting Israel as a “pernicious effort to delegitimize Israel through boycotts, divestment, and sanctions” that fits Macron’s definition of a “reinvented form of antisemitism because it seeks to impose boycotts on Israel and not on any other nation.”

The New York Democrat expressed hope that “states across the country continue to push back against the BDS movement, by boycotting the boycotters, as my home state of New York has done.”

EJP