The Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France announced on Wednesday that “in 2022, the Ministry of the Interior and the Jewish Community Protection Service recorded 436 anti-Semitic acts” in France.
Anti-Semitic acts numbered 436 in 2022, compared to 589 the previous year, according to a count made public on Wednesday by the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France (Crif), a drop of 26%, to be “put into perspective” however. , he believes.
In a press release, Crif reports on the annual report published on Wednesday by the Jewish Community Protection Service (SPCJ, a private organization whose mission is to protect Jewish life), an offshoot of the main Jewish institutions. A report produced “with the Ministry of the Interior”, he said.
“In 2022, the Ministry of the Interior and the SPCJ identified 436 anti-Semitic acts” having been the subject of a complaint or a report to the police, writes the Crif. “53%” of these acts “damage people” and “10% are violent physical attacks”.
Figures not yet confirmed by the Interior
Questioned by our colleagues from AFP, Place Beauvau did not confirm these statistics. The ministry’s figures are to be released later.
In addition, according to Crif, “61% of anti-religious acts harming people are directed against Jews”.
“Obviously, a drop is good news, but it is to be put into perspective”, commented the president of Crif, Yonathan Arfi.
In particular because it is “only the figures recorded in the police station”, or because “the most serious acts remain at a high level”. Or because it “does not reflect (…) the reality of anti-Semitism on the Internet”.
“We remain on a high plateau, of the same order as for the past 20 years, added Fabrice Arfi, for whom anti-Semitism continues “to take on different faces and in particular those of Islamism, conspiracy and hatred of Israel. “.
A “trompe-l’oeil drop” for the UEJF
According to Crif, the SPCF also conducted “a study (…) on the criminal response to anti-Semitic physical attacks committed from 2015 to 2019”. It shows that “63% of cases of anti-Semitic attacks were closed without further action” and that “in only 24% of cases the attackers were convicted”.
In September, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin welcomed a “25%” decline in the number of anti-Semitic acts recorded in France in the first half of 2022 compared to the first six months of 2021.
In 2021, according to figures from the Ministry of the Interior, there had been a total of “1,659 anti-religious acts” in France, i.e. 857 anti-Christian acts, 589 anti-Semitic acts and 213 anti-Muslim acts.
A political showcase for the largest Jewish population in Europe (about 500,000 people), the Crif brings together some 70 associations, such as the Unified Jewish Social Fund or the Union of Jewish Students in France (UEJF). In a separate press release, the UEJF spoke of a “sham decline” and asked that “the fight” against anti-Semitism be “a priority for the public authorities”.
