Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on March 5, 2024

The anecdote is revealing. After canceling his participation in a debate organized in Paris by Tsedek! around the Holocaust film The Zone of Interest, Nazi Historian Johann Chapoutot confessed to having confused this collective of left-wing Jews with another, Golem. It has to be said that their activists have many things in common: They are Jewish, left wing and firmly committed to opposing all forms of racism. Indeed, they marched in the same processions against the recent immigration law, which tightens requirements for foreigners.

But the two groups' analyses of the period since October 7 are markedly different, between the anti-Zionists (Tsedek!, but also the French Jewish Union for Peace, UJFP) and movements such as Golem, set up to combat anti-Semitism in France: They share neither the same reading of anti-Semitism nor the same vision of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

October 7 was a double trauma for many left-wing Jews in France: The shock of the Hamas attacks was compounded by the feeling of being betrayed by their own political camp. A minority within a French Jewish population that is "turning right-wing," many left-wing Jews can "no longer recognize themselves in La France Insoumise [far left] since [party leader Jean-Luc] Mlenchon and others downplayed the importance of the October 7 attacks," said Michel Wieviorka, sociologist and director of studies at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales.

Simon*, a 33-year-old Arab-Jewish with Tunisian roots, said: "I felt like my political party had abandoned me. I was revolted by this refusal to name these acts as barbaric and anti-Semitic, and to pass them off as resistance." This feeling of loneliness pursued them again on November 12, during the march against anti-Semitism organized by the government, which brought together more than 182,000 people. The absence of part of their political camp hurt them, and the presence of the far right outraged them.

It was then that Golem made its first appearance. Created the day before the protest, this movement owes its name to a creature from Jewish mythology, believed to defend Jews against pogroms. The collective made a name for itself at the time of the protest by attempting to remove members of the far-right Rassemblement National party.

Simon, enthusiastic, decided to join Golem: "It was the only right reaction for me. I'd wandered around in a lot of 'left-wing circles' before, and I was always squabbling over the issue of anti-Semitism. Golem was created to make a left-wing Jewish voice heard. It's something I'd been waiting for for so long." Since then, Simon has taken part in his first activist actions, such as pasting posters against anti-Semitism outside the headquarters of La France Insoumise.

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Originally posted here:

France's left-wing Jews, though united through faith, face new political divisions - Le Monde

Category: Anti-semitism
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