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Un antisémitisme nouveau? The debate about a ‘new antisemitism’ in France

2009; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 43; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00313220902793773

1461-7331

Timothy Peace,

Middle East Politics and Society

ABSTRACT Nowhere has the debate about a 'new antisemitism' been as fierce and relevant as in France. In recent years this country has witnessed high recorded levels of antisemitism, prompting many commentators to claim the existence of an anti-sémitisme nouveau. Something has indeed changed, at least in terms of the nature, frequency and perpetrators of antisemitic violence in France. Previously connected exclusively to the extreme right, it has now also become associated with a group that is itself a victim of discrimination: ethnic minority youths living in the poor suburbs (banlieues). Peace first discusses and explains the statistics produced by the French watchdog on racism and antisemitism as well as the effects of the Middle East conflict. He then traces the debate on this 'new antisemitism' in the French context, contrasting the views of the label's promoters and opponents. He argues that, while antisemitism has undoubtedly evolved, the 'new' label is effectively erroneous as it fuses supposedly leftist and 'Muslim' antisemitism into one entity when they are not necessarily linked. In addition, he offers vital clarification of the distinction between anti-Zionism and antisemitism along with suggestions for further research. Keywords: antisemitismanti-ZionismFranceIslamFrench JewsFrench MuslimsIsraelnew antisemitism Notes 1am indebted to the Luck-Hille Foundation who generously supported this project, conducted as part of research for a masters degree at the University of Leeds. I wish to thank Max Silverman who supervised the thesis, as well as Jim House and the two anonymous reviewers of this article for their useful advice and comments. I am also grateful to Mme Riou-Batista at the Commission nationale consultative des droits de l'homme (CNCDH) for clarifications regarding statistics and the monitoring of antisemitism in France. All translations from the French, unless otherwise stated, are my own, and the usual disclaimer applies.1 These figures refer to the combined total of antisemitic threats and acts of violence (see Figure 1). 2Jean-Yves Camus, 'Jenseits des republikanischen Modells: Antisemitismus in Frankreich', in Lars Rensmann and Julius H. Schoeps (eds), Feindbild Judentum: Antisemitismus in Europa (Berlin: Verlag für Berlin-Brandenburg 2008), 44. 3Emmanuel Brenner (ed.), Les Territoires perdus de la République: antisémitisme, racisme et sexisme en milieu scolaire (Paris: Mille et une nuits 2002) provoked the most comment. It consisted of a series of testimonies of teachers about the difficulties they faced trying to conduct their classes, specifically in the poorer suburbs. It was a publishing phenomenon and was said to have influenced Jacques Chirac's decision to appoint the Stasi commission. It was, however, criticized by some for unjustly portraying young French people of North African origin as being inherently sexist, antisemitic and disrespectful of authority figures. Brenner, a pseudonym of Georges Bensoussan, is a historian specializing in the Holocaust. 4Michel Wieviorka (ed.), La Tentation antisémite: haine des juifs dans la France d'aujourd'hui (Paris: Robert Laffont 2005), 337–80. This excellent study of contemporary antisemitism in France has been translated into English as The Lure of Anti-semitism: Hatred of Jews in Present-day France, trans. from the French by Kristin Couper Lobel and Anna Declerck (Leiden and Boston: Brill 2007). Similar problems in the United Kingdom prompted the government to implement measures to tackle antisemitism in British universities; see Isabel Oakeshott and Chris Gourlay, 'Anti-semitism rules come in at universities', The Times, 25 March 2007. 5For an account of this 'exodus' of the Jewish community to Israel and, in particular, operation 'Sarcelles d'abord' mounted by the Jewish Agency for Israel, see Cécilia Gabizon and Johan Weisz, OPA sur les juifs de France: enquête sur un exode programmé (2000–2005) (Paris: Grasset 2006). 6The Comité interministériel de lutte contre le racisme et l'antisémitisme (CILRA) was created by decree of then President Chirac on 8 December 2003. 7Many of those interviewed by the Stasi commission (see note 28) mentioned the problem of antisemitism in their testimonies. Ironically, many Jewish figures rallied in favour of the ban even though it of course meant that the skullcap would also be banned. For more details on the reasons for the implementation of this law, see John R. Bowen, Why the French Don't Like Headscarves: Islam, the State, and Public Space (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press 2007). 8It is problematic simply to label these actors as 'Muslims', and I use this particular terminology (arabo-musulmans) as it is the one that appears in the reports of the CNCDH. On the racialization of North African immigrants and their children as 'Muslims', see Paul A. Silverstein, 'The context of antisemitism and Islamophobia in France', Patterns of Prejudice, vol. 42, no. 1, February 2008, 1–26. 9These annual reports, entitled La Lutte contre le racisme, l'antisémitisme et la xénophobie, are published each year on 21 March (the UN's International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination) and are available online on the CNCDH website at www.cncdh.fr/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=27 (viewed 19 January 2009). 10Created by the Conseil représentatif des institutions juives de France (CRIF), the consistoires and the Fonds Social juif unifié (FSJU) in 1980 in the wake of the bombing of the rue Copernic synagogue in Paris. It performs a similar function to the Community Security Trust in Britain, and works in close collaboration with the ministry of the interior. To view its figures, see its website at www.spcj.org (viewed 19 January 2009). 11Formerly the Direction centrale des renseignements généraux (DCRG), which in July 2008 was merged with the Direction de la surveillance du territoire (DST) to form the new body. This is a three-step process: local police or gendarmerie forces gather information, which is then collected by the direction générale (governing body) of each organization, which in turn sends these figures to the DCRI at the end of the year. 12The creation of the DCRI meant that the procedure for counting antisemitic incidents for 2008 (and subsequently) was slightly modified. For details of these changes, see CNCDH, La Lutte contre le racisme, l'antisémitisme et la xénophobie. Année 2008 (Paris: La Documentation franc,aise 2009). 13Since late 2005 the Direction générale de la police nationale (DGPN) has been using a system called STIC (système de traitement des infractions constatées) in order to produce its statistical data on racist and antisemitic crimes. This is due to be connected to Judex, the equivalent system used by the Direction générale de la gendarmerie nationale (DGGN) to form a new database (fichier) called Ariane. This will allow for a more systematic exchange of information between the DGPN and DGGN, and is due to be implemented in 2009. 14The 1990 Gayssot law (no. 90-615) also made Holocaust denial a punishable crime. 15The new laws passed in response to the increase in antisemitism include no. 2003-88 (loi Lellouche), no. 2004-204 and no. 2004-1486, as well as the circular of 13 August 2004. 16Silverstein, 'The context of antisemitism and Islamophobia in France', 23. 17This was in response to an article published in Le Point detailing a league table of the 'most violent schools' using the SIGNA data. 18Silverstein, 'The context of antisemitism and Islamophobia in France', 23. 19Steven Beller, 'In Zion's hall of mirrors: a comment on Neuer Antisemitismus', Patterns of Prejudice, vol. 41, no. 2, May 2007, 223. 20As is well known, the first article of the French constitution promises equality for all citizens 'irrespective of origin, race or religion'. The consequence of this is that the collection of such data remains officially illegal. Nevertheless, the ministry of justice hands these statistics over to the CNCDH for its annual reports despite refusing to specify what the category actually means and how the figures have been obtained. 23Michel Wieviorka, L'antisémitisme est-il de retour? (Paris: Larousse 2008), 30. Although not a promoter of the 'new antisemitism' thesis, Wieviorka was one of the first to use the term after the recent wave of antisemitism began; see Michel Wieviorka, 'Crise au Proche Orient: un nouvel antisémitisme', La Croix, 20 October 2000. 21Sylvain Brouard and Vincent Tiberj, Français comme les autres? Enquête sur les citoyens d'origine maghrébine, africaine et turque (Paris: Presses de la fondation nationale des sciences politiques 2005), 108. According to the statistics gathered in this study, 46 per cent of practising Muslims in France are classed as being 'intolerant' vis-à-vis Jews. 22Jonathan Laurence and Justin Vaisse, Integrating Islam: Political and Religious Challenges in Contemporary France (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press 2006), 241. 24Raphaël Draï, Sous le signe de Sion: l'antisémitisme nouveau est arrivé (Paris: Michalon 2002); Pierre-André Taguieff, La Nouvelle Judéophobie (Paris: Mille et une nuits 2002); Sylvain Attal, La Plaie: enquête sur le nouvel antisémitisme (Paris: Denoël 2004); Paul Giniewski, Antisionisme: le nouvel antisémitisme (Paris: Cheminements 2005). 25Gilles William Goldnadel, Le Nouveau Bréviaire de la haine: antisémitisme et antisionisme (Paris: Ramsay 2001); Jean-Pierre Allali, Les Habits neufs de l'antisémitisme: anatomie d'une angoisse (Paris: Desclée de Brouwer 2002); Alain Finkielkraut, Au Nom de l'autre: réflexions sur l'antisémitisme qui vient (Paris: Gallimard 2003); Alexis Lacroix, Le Socialisme des imbéciles: quand l'antisémitisme redevient de gauche (Paris: Table Ronde 2005). 26Etienne Balibar et al., Antisémitisme: l'intolérable chantage: Israël-Palestine, une affaire française? (Paris: La Découverte 2003); Pascal Boniface, Est-il permis de critiquer Israël? (Paris: Robert Laffont 2003); Guillaume Weill-Raynal, Une Haine imaginaire? Contre-enquête sur le 'nouvel antisémitisme' (Paris: Armand Colin 2005). 27Vincent Geisser, La Nouvelle Islamophobie (Paris: La Découverte 2003); Thomas Deltombe, Islam imaginaire: la construction médiatique de l'islamophobie en France, 1975–2005 (Paris: La Découverte 2005); Vincent Geisser and Aziz Zemouri, Marianne et Allah: les politiques français face à la 'question musulmane' (Paris: La Découverte 2007). 28Since it was published, this book has achieved a certain notoriety in intellectual circles but has become the text of reference for many in the French Jewish community on this subject. Its success can be measured by the publication of two other books that paraphrase its title: Geisser, La Nouvelle Islamophobie and René Rémond, Le Nouvel Antichristianisme (Paris: Desclée de Brouwer 2005). For an abridged translation in English, see Pierre-André Taguieff, Rising from the Muck: The New Anti-Semitism in Europe, trans. from the French by Patrick Camiller (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee 2004). 29Most notably, the report of the Stasi commission, Laïcité et République. Rapport de la commission de réflexion sur l'application du principe de laïcité dans la République (Paris: La Documentation française 2004)—which led to the controversial law banning religious symbols in state schools—but also the report commissioned by then minister of the interior Dominique de Villepin, Jean-Christophe Rufin, Chantier sur la lutte contre le racisme et l'antisémitisme (Paris: La Documentation française 2004). 30Paul Foster, 'Les Médias français seraient-ils devenus antisémites?', in Alexandre Feigenbaum, Jacqueline Rebibo and Monique Sander (eds), (Nouveaux) visages de l'antisémitisme: haine-passion ou haine-historique? (Paris: NM7 2001), 221–8. 31Shmuel Trigano, La Démission de la République: juifs et musulmans en France (Paris: Presses universitaires de France 2003). Ironically, others even accused the French media of reporting too many antisemitic incidents, thereby increasing the risk of inspiring copycat acts; see Laurence and Vaisse, Integrating Islam, 229. 32Dominique Vidal, Le Mal-être juif: entre repli, assimilation & manipulations (Marseille: Agone 2003), 71. 33Daniel Mermet hosts a popular radio show, Là bas si j'y suis, broadcast on France Inter, and was accused of airing defamatory remarks by listeners concerning a report from Gaza. Edgar Morin was indicted along with his co-authors, former Euro MP Sami Naïr and writer Danièle Sallenave, after they published an article critical of Israel in the 4 June 2002 edition of Le Monde entitled 'Israël-Palestine: le cancer'. Mermet won his case but, after originally being cleared, Morin was found guilty by the court of appeal. This despite an organized campaign of support led by some of France's leading intellectuals. 34Marie-Amélie Lombard, 'Les tribunaux français face au conflit israélo-palestinien', Le Figaro, 19 June 2002. 35A point also noted by Jonathan Judaken who states that 'both critics and defenders of the state of Israel are so infused by their respective partisan divisions that every intellectual resource is mobilized to suffocate the voices of their enemies with the result that the truths of each side cannot be heard'; Jonathan Judaken, 'So what's new? Rethinking the "new antisemitism" in a global age', Patterns of Prejudice, vol. 42, no. 4–5, September 2008, 533. 36Judaken identifies five, although I would argue that his fourth and fifth 'vectors' are essentially the same. In the French debate, Holocaust denial has not been considered as part of the 'new antisemitism' as this phenomenon is still overwhelmingly associated with the extreme right. A point also noted by Jonathan Judaken who states that 'both critics and defenders of the state of Israel are so infused by their respective partisan divisions that every intellectual resource is mobilized to suffocate the voices of their enemies with the result that the truths of each side cannot be heard'; Jonathan Judaken, 'So what's new? Rethinking the "new antisemitism" in a global age', Patterns of Prejudice, vol. 42, no. 4–5, September 2008, 538. 37Brian Klug, 'The collective Jew: Israel and the new antisemitism', Patterns of Prejudice, vol. 37, no. 2, June 2003, 117–38. 38Attal, La Plaie, 19. 39Taguieff, La Nouvelle Judéophobie, 12. 40Shulamit Volkov, 'Readjusting cultural codes: reflections on anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism', Journal of Israeli History, vol. 25, no. 1, March 2006, 51–62. 41Caroline Fourest, La Tentation obscurantiste (Paris: Grasset 2005). 42'Facilitators of antisemitism who by their opinions, or through their silence, legitimize such acts' (Rufin, Chantier sur la lutte contre le racisme et l'antisémitisme, 15). 43Pierre-André Taguieff, Prêcheurs de haine: traversée de la judéophobie planétaire (Paris: Mille et une nuits 2004), 17. 46Eli Barnavi, 'O[ugrave] en est Israël?', Le Débat, no. 128, January 2004, 19. 44This is not unique to France of course. The report by the British All-Party Parliamentary Group against Antisemitism also refers to 'islamist antisemitism'; see All-Party Parliamentary Group against Antisemitism, Report of the All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Antisemitism (London: Stationery Office 2006), 26. 45Taguieff, La Nouvelle Judéophobie, 128. 47Brian Klug, 'Is Europe a lost cause? The European debate on antisemitism and the Middle East conflict', Patterns of Prejudice, vol. 39, no. 1, March 2005, 57. 48He first developed the notion of la nouvelle judéophobie back in 1989; see Pierre-André Taguieff, 'La nouvelle judéophobie: antisionisme, antiracisme, anti-impérialisme', Les Temps Modernes, no. 520, November 1989, 7–80. 49See the latest incarnation of this argument in Pierre-André Taguieff, La Judéophobie des modernes: des lumières au jihad mondial (Paris: Odile Jacob 2008). 53Michel Winock, La France et les juifs: de 1789 à nos jours (Paris: Editions du Seuil 2004)., 363. 50Benoît Rayski, Jours tranquilles à Créteil: voyage au bout d'une haine ordinaire (Paris: Ramsay 2004). 51Wieviorka, La Tentation antisémite. 52Michel Winock, La France et les juifs: de 1789 à nos jours (Paris: Editions du Seuil 2004). 54Draï, Sous le signe de Sion, 18. 55Taguieff, Prêcheurs de haine, 21. 56Certain elements of the French extreme right could be considered antisemitic Zionists because they would rather see Jews in Israel than in France; see Pascal Boniface, 'L'antisémitisme et la France', in Alain Houziaux (ed.), Israël, les juifs, l'antisémitisme (Paris: Editions de l'atelier 2005), 37. 57David N. Myers, 'Can there be a principled anti-Zionism? On the nexus between anti-historicism and anti-Zionism in modern Jewish thought', Journal of Israeli History, vol. 25, no. 1, March 2006, 33–50. 58Christian Delacampagne, 'L'antisémitisme en France (1945–1993)', in Léon Poliakov (ed.), Histoire de l'antisémitisme, 1945–1993 (Paris: Editions du Seuil 1994), 140. Here one would immediately think of the Soviet Union whose state-sponsored antisemitism was often propagated under the pretence of 'anti-Zionism' as well as the organized 'anti-Zionist' campaign of 1968 in Poland. Many also believed that the September 2001 World Conference against Racism in Durban was used to disseminate antisemitism under the banner of anti-Zionism. 59Conspiracy theories about the involvement of Jews/Zionists in 9/11 are prevalent among youths in the French banlieues; see Wieviorka, La Tentation antisémite, 194. 60The FRA's discussion paper, 'Working Definition of Antisemitism', is available on its website at http://fra.europa.eu/fraWebsit/material/pub/AS/AS-WorkingDefinition-draft.pdf (viewed 30 January 2009). For an account of how this definition was formulated, see Dina Porat, 'The road that led to an internationally accepted definition of antisemitism', Jahrbuch für Antisemitismusforschung, vol. 16, 2007, 117–37. The FRA was formerly known as the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) and has published several reports on antisemitism. 61Antony Lerman, 'Jews attacking Jews', Haaretz, 12 September 2008. 62David Myers tries to clear up this ambiguity by pointing to 'group stigmatization' as the defining criteria of criticism of Israel as antisemitism. Therefore, when the target of this criticism is the supposed nature of the Jews themselves, whether in Israel or in the diaspora, it crosses the red line and becomes antisemitic; see Myers, 'Can there be a principled anti-Zionism?'. The most emblematic example of such stigmatization in the French context would be Charles de Gaulle's comments in November 1967 about Jews being 'an elitist dominating people'. The ex-president of the CRIF paraphrased this remark for the title of his book in which he revealed how he brought pressure to bear on government leaders to act against antisemitism; see Roger Cukierman, Ni fiers ni dominateurs (Paris: Editions du Moment 2008). 63Houziaux (ed.), Israël, les juifs, l'antisémitisme, 17. 65Yehuda Bauer, 'Antisemitism and anti-Zionism—new and old', in Robert Wistrich (ed.), Anti-Zionism and Antisemitism in the Contemporary World (Basingstoke: Macmillan 1990), 198. 64Judaken, 'So what's new?', 560. 66Paul Thibaud, 'La Question juive et la crise française', Le Débat, no. 131, September–October 2004, 48. 67Klug, 'Is Europe a lost cause?', 58. 68All-Party Parliamentary Group against Antisemitism, Report of the All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Antisemitism, 17. 69Volkov, 'Readjusting cultural codes', 51. 70Nicolas Weill, La République et les antisémites (Paris: Grasset 2004), 24.