France’s Jewish community firmly condemned the anti-Semitic attack in Sarcelles on an 8-year-old boy wearing a kippa.
The act’s anti-Semitic nature was clear to René Taïeb, president of the Union of Jewish communities of Val-d’Oise. “It’s terrible that one can attack a child as a result of prejudice,” he said. “If one can no longer walk in Sarcelles with a kippa, there’s a problem. It would be the same thing for the Muslim community. It’s not trivial. I’m wary of isolated acts. They can increase in power. We must stop these heinous acts immediately.”
The National bureau of vigilance against anti-Semitism (BNCVA) also firmly condemned the aggression, as did Gérard Collomb: “Since the beginning of 2018, I see anti-Semitic acts multiplying…such actions besmirch our Republic. They threaten the principles that unify our Nation.”
The Sarcelles Jewish community’s president Moïse Kahloun said: “We are at once worried and reassured. Worried because it’s the second aggression in a month. And reassured because the prefecture worked to reinforce security in the Jewish quarter. The most important thing is that the child is doing well.”
At the end of Anne Frank elementary’s school day, Jackie Tordjman, mother of three, spoke of her desire to make Aliyah. Nearly 10% of France’s Jewish community has made Aliyah in the last decade. “I don’t want my children to grow up here. I don’t want them to become violent,” she said.
Ruben Limondtora doesn’t want to leave France but has changed his kippa-wearing habits. “I only wear it in the Jewish quarter. When I leave the neighborhood I put on a hat,” he admitted.
The president of the Israelite Central Consistory of France, Joël Mergui, said he was “worried again by the number of anti-Semitic aggressions, which pass unnoticed.”
“Paradoxically, in Sarcelles–which I visit regularly–the atmosphere is wonderful,” said Haïm Korsia, Grand Rabbi of France. “This is largely thanks to the work of several mayors–François Pupponi, Nicolas Maccioni–and it’s a place where respect for one other endures. This is what makes the situation even worse: this city is a laboratory for a functional vivre ensemble!”
Sources
http://www.leparisien.fr/val-d-oise-95/sarcelles-la-communaute-juive-en-emoi-apres-l-agression-d-un-enfant-30-01-2018-7531857.php
http://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/2018/01/31/01016-20180131ARTFIG00372-agression-d-un-enfant-juif-a-sarcelles-le-malaise-croissant-de-la-petite-jerusalem.php
