The CFCM denounces the abject remarks of Robert Ménard, who affirmed that “anti-Semitism exists in a large part of the Muslim electorate”.
“Anti-Semitism exists in a large part of the Muslim electorate”
These abject remarks are those made by Robert Menard, mayor of Béziers, on the microphone of Frederic Haziza on “Radio J”, accustomed to anathemas against the Muslims of France but never taken up by Arcom.
Currently, many polemicists deliberately confuse anti-Semitism with legitimate and necessary criticism of the Israeli far-right government and condemnation of its crimes in Gaza.
The Muslims of France are of course dismayed, revolted and sickened by the unbearable images that reach them from Gaza where innocent women and children are massacred daily. They are not the only ones to experience these feelings of affliction and injustice.
They legitimately blame those responsible for these massacres who have repeatedly and publicly announced their genocidal intention to eradicate the civilian population in Gaza, civilians whom they compare to animals, when they are not all assimilated to terrorists or when there is no call to eliminate them by nuclear weapons.
Those who knowingly make this infamous confusion between anti-Semitism and condemnation of Israeli atrocities in Gaza, are lining up behind the strategy of extremist Israeli decision-makers who, to protect their crimes, accuse as anti-Semites, among others, the UN, the International Criminal Court, international humanitarian NGOs, and Josep Borrell, the vice-president of the European Commission.
Moreover, many Jews in France and around the world denounce the betrayals of the Israeli far-right government and condemn its crimes against the people of Gaza. Are they anti-Semitic?
Furthermore, Muslims had been singled out for many apparently anti-Semitic acts before it was realised that these were foreign manipulations. This was the case, for example, with the Stars of David painted on the walls of the capital: the far-right media had rushed to cast opprobrium on the Muslims of France before falling into a deafening silence when the origins of the culprits and their motivations were revealed.
Like many citizens in France and around the world, French Muslims are crying out their despair and pain in the face of the massacres they are witnessing in Gaza. This must in no way be confused with hatred of Jews. This hatred, like other hatreds, must be fought relentlessly and without any concessions.
Paris, September 17, 2024
French Council of the Muslim Faith
