“Where are” the approximately 1,500 “anti-Semitic acts that there are in France? » The Central Jewish Consistory of France condemned Tuesday the “scandalous and unacceptable” comments of an imam who publicly wondered “where are” the anti-Semitic acts recorded in France.
“Deeply outraged”, the Consistory protested in a press release that this imam of the Grand Mosque of Paris “is speaking out for conspiracy theories, suggesting that the census of anti-Semitic acts would not necessarily correspond to reality facts “. Tuesday morning on RMC, imam Abdelali Mamoun asked “where are” the approximately 1,500 “anti-Semitic acts that there are in France?” “. “I would like us to reveal them so that we can show solidarity” with the Jews of France, he continued.
Disavowed by the Grand Mosque of Paris
“I am not saying that the figures are false but they are not revealed, not apparent”, regretted this imam of the Grand Mosque of Paris, wishing not “not proofs” but “elements”, such as “such and such a synagogue was desecrated, such a cemetery was desecrated, such an individual of Jewish faith was attacked.”
These comments were rejected by the rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris, Chems-eddine Hafiz, who “refused” the words of the imam, speaking according to him “in a personal capacity”. “The Grand Mosque of Paris does not deny, does not minimize or relativize all of the anti-Semitic acts that have occurred in France in recent weeks, and has complete confidence in the figures released by the Ministry of the Interior,” a- he added, assuring that the imam had expressed to him “his regret at having been very confused, when he did not intend to question the alarming figures of anti-Semitic acts in France”.
The “venom of doubt”
Welcoming this distancing, the Consistory regretted that despite everything “the venom of doubt was instilled”. A total of 1,518 anti-Semitic acts and remarks have been recorded in France since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said on Tuesday.
Denouncing “very shocking insinuations”, the minister specified that 50% of these acts were tags, posters, banners, 22% threats and insults, 10% an apology for terrorism, 8% attacks on property, 6% suspicious behavior, 2% of assault and battery and 2% of attacks on community premises.