A sickening case of anti-Semitic violence against a child has shocked France and sparked urgent calls to combat resurgent hatred against Jews. President Emmanuel Macron himself weighed in Wednesday, demanding schools hold discussions on stamping out racist and anti-Semitic acts.
The furore erupted after French authorities arrested three boys, aged 12 and 13, accused of raping a 12-year-old Jewish girl in a Paris suburb over the weekend while subjecting her to anti-Semitic insults.
According to prosecutors, the victim said she was in a park in Courbevoie on Saturday when the boys, at least one of whom she knew, approached her. They then allegedly dragged her to an isolated area before raping her while unleashing a torrent of anti-Semitic abuse. One of the attackers is also accused of threatening to kill her if she reported the assault.
All three suspects were charged this week with gang rape, anti-Semitic insults, making death threats and violence over an alleged hate motive.
The shocking case set off widespread revulsion across France, where the Jewish community has frequently sounded the alarm about a disturbing rise in anti-Semitic incidents since last October when Hamas militants launched deadly attacks on Israeli towns. That violence touched off renewed conflict between Israel and the militant Palestinian group.
At a cabinet meeting Wednesday, a furious Macron ordered his education minister to ensure schools nationwide hold dialogues over the next few days addressing racism and Jew-hatred. The goal, his office said, was "to prevent hateful speech with serious consequences from infiltrating schools."
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal branded the alleged gang rape in Courbevoie "absolutely despicable, unbearable and unspeakable" amid the worrying surge of anti-Semitism in France.
Just last month, a report by a leading Jewish advocacy group found anti-Semitic acts in France skyrocketed 284% between 2022 and 2023. The group said almost 13% of those incidents took place in schools alone.
The crime also inevitably took on a political dimension with France gearing up for snap parliamentary elections following Macron's decision to call a new vote. Far-right and far-left leaders traded blame over which ideology bore more responsibility for fueling anti-Semitism in the charged climate.
The BBC reported that France's Chief Rabbi Haim Korsia wrote about his horror in the face of this assualt, saying, "Justice must firmly punish the perpetrators of this despicable act. No one can be excused from this unprecedented anti-Semitic surge."
As reported by YNet, about a thousand people demonstrated yesterday evening (Wednesday) at the Paris city hall square to protest the rape. The demonstrators, responding to calls from the group #stopantisemitism, waved signs demanding an end to violence against Jews.
"In the France of 2024, a girl is raped because she is Jewish," read one sign carried by Alexandra, a resident of Paris' 18th arrondissement. "We can't go on like this. I have children this age. How will we live? Will we wake up every morning and ask ourselves if some madman will take my daughter to a hangar and rape her? People need to wake up and understand what is happening around them."
The horrific crime has amplified anguished voices across French society decrying how ancient anti-Semitic hatred still festers today, manifesting itself in unthinkable acts of violence.
