Antisemitism has been on the rise in France since October 7 and the war in Gaza, and despite official sympathies and a large public protest in Paris against Jew hatred, it shows no signs of stopping.
Antisemitism has spiked in France since October 7 and the war in Gaza, according to a report in the French paper Le Figaro.
Cases of antisemitism harassment now range from refusing service to Jews to hate mail to even postal workers delaying or even never handling mail to and from Israel. Many French Jews have even taken to hiding visible signs of their Jewishness in their home and person and even on their mailboxes and on service apps such as Uber.
As the secretary for the National Bureau for Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism put it, "the new anti-Semitism is a civil servant or an employee who uses his company to wage his own personal jihad against the Jew of his choice."
Miriam, a French Jewish resident of Paris, also said that the current wave of antisemitism feels different and more intense than previous eruptions of antisemitism, such as during the Second Intifada.
In addition to what she called the "mini-Shoah" of October 7 making her fearing something like that happening in Paris, official support for Jews has been mixed, in her view. President Macron was quick to visit Israel soon after October 7 to extend his sympathies, but he did not personally attend the March Against Antisemitism in Paris last week, possibly for fear of antagonizing French Muslims.
Miriam also noted that many of her Muslim colleagues openly expressed sympathy for the Palestinian cause shortly after the massacre but little for Jews, even spreading claims of Jewish atrocities which were later disproven.
On the flip side, she says that she and those around her feel much more a part of a united Jewish People, present throughout the world, something she didn't feel so strongly before.
