During the months of January and February, we mark the two deadliest terrorist attacks against France's Jewish community. Exactly four years ago today, four Jews were murdered by a jihadist terrorist in the heart of Paris. Three years earlier, in 2012, four Jews, three of them children, were murdered outside of the Ozar Hatorah school, also the victims of Islamist terrorism.
Since the beginning of the 21st century, 13 Jews have been killed on French soil for being Jews. This new form of anti-Semitism is the result of a combination of radical Islam and Israel hatred.
When terrorism struck Toulouse, I warned that Jews would always be on the front line and that if Jews are attacked, it was a sign the terrorists will come to harm every single citizen in France. Unfortunately, the attacks reached the offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, the Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket and later the Bataclan, Nice, and Strasbourg. And the list continues to grow. Jews are on the front line, and it seems that everyone has gotten used to this because, for many in France, it stands to reason that Jews would be attacked for being Jewish.
There are words and there is action. French officials condemn anti-Semitism but are unwilling to talk about the cause. Worse, anti-Zionism spreads like a cancer in speeches, the media and France's diplomacy. Four years have passed since the attack on the Hyper Cacher supermarket, and unfortunately, France has not learned its lesson.
I always remind everyone that the vile terrorists behind both the Hyper Cacher and Toulouse attacks explained that they did what they did "to avenge the Palestinians." Those are not empty words. There is a distinct anti-Semitic atmosphere in France. It is the result of the efforts of a large portion of the media outlets and radical leftist political parties, who raise the flag of Israel hatred whenever and wherever possible and try to advance initiatives for the boycott and condemnation of Israel.
Simply put, the anti-Semitism of the Left, which is based on Israel hatred, is seen as being more "politically correct."
In the summer of 2014, during Operation Protective Edge, they yelled, "Death to Jews" at huge anti-Israel rallies in the heart of Paris. We have not heard such cries since World War II. There are boycotts of Israel, and not a week goes by without a BDS rally. While French law forbids boycotts, France awarded its prestigious Human Rights Prize to Al-Haq, an organization run by a member of the terrorist group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and that supports a boycott of Israel, just last year.
On the sidelines of the recent yellow-vest protests, there have been banners, posters, video clips and other anti-Semitic materials spewing conspiracy theories that accuse the Jews and the "Zionists" of controlling state funds at the expense of the French people.
I am worried about the Jews, who have become an easy target for this murderous terrorism. But as a member of France's parliament who loves his country, I am even more worried about France and Europe in general. Jews now have a strong country, a moral beacon that serves as life insurance for all Jewish people everywhere in the world. But what about the French? What about Europe? We need to wake up and stop incessantly blaming Israel and instead start fighting terrorism. There is no difference to my mind between the terrorism that strikes France and the terrorism that strikes Jerusalem or the Samaria settlement of Ofra. These are the same murderers who want to harm innocent people. It's a shame that France finds it difficult to see reality for what it is.
