Against Anti-Semitism in Solidarity with Palestine

The France Palestine Solidarity Association condemns in the strongest terms the anti-Semitic attack that targeted the synagogue in La Grande-Motte on Saturday, August 24, 2024.

This attack is presented as being related to the struggle of the Palestinian people. Such criminal acts are generally the result of a well-known deadly spiral: whenever Israeli policy reaches new heights of horror towards the Palestinian people, often isolated individuals commit or attempt to commit irreparable acts of terrorism and anti-Semitic nature.

These unjustifiable acts must be denounced. They have nothing to do with the solidarity that the Palestinian people need. The vast majority of Palestinians refuse and have always refused to allow criminal acts to be committed in the name of the suffering and injustices they have suffered for almost a century. This attack on a Jewish place of worship is an obstacle to the necessary solidarity with the Palestinian cause.

However, the instrumentalization of these criminal acts by supporters of Israeli policy in occupied Palestine is a shameless manipulation. Thus, the amalgams and accusations against those who denounce the ongoing genocide in Gaza are multiplying, in particular with the at least inappropriate statements of the (resigned) Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and the leaders of the CRIF. Not to mention Gérald Darmanin who accuses a part of the French left ” to encourage hate speech against Jews “All these statements have only one goal: to divert attention from the seriousness of the crimes committed by Israel and their increasingly strong condemnation in the world and by international legal bodies.

The prefect of Hérault even went so far as to use the attack on the synagogue in La Grande-Motte to ban a long-planned rally in solidarity with Palestine in Montpellier for Saturday afternoon.

Any racist act, of whatever nature, must be condemned. Anti-Semitic acts must be denounced. Just as we must, with the same energy, denounce and condemn the increase in Islamophobic and racist acts with attacks on mosques, particularly in Cherbourg, Morlaix and Montauban.

The France Palestine Solidarity Association denounces the political instrumentalization of the fight against anti-Semitism. It refuses to see the expression and freedom of action of the solidarity movement with Palestine hindered under the pretext of isolated irresponsible acts.

Our fight alongside the Palestinian people does not tolerate any complacency towards acts of an anti-Semitic nature. Our fight against all forms of racism has always been an absolute priority, and we will never accept that it be denied by abject partisan manipulations.

The AFPS National Office, August 26, 2024