by Canaan Lidor
While one community leader congratulated Sébastien Lecornu, others doubt there will be any shift from Paris’s anti-Israel line amid internal turmoil and rioting in the country.
French Jews reacted with cautious optimism on Wednesday to the appointment of a new prime minister amid an internal political crisis and rioting in major cities.
Jonathan Arfi, the president of the CRIF umbrella group of French Jewish communities, on Wednesday congratulated Sébastien Lecornu on his appointment on Tuesday to replace François Bayrou as prime minister following a no-confidence vote in the French parliament.
The government fell in connection with the austerity plan led by Bayrou under President Emmanuel Macron. Protests over the plan erupted into riots on Sept. 10 during a general strike declared by the French far left. Hundreds have been arrested, and a dozen police officers were injured in rioting in major cities, including in Paris, where rioters torched at least one building.
“I offer him my best wishes for success in serving all French people. CRIF will stand by his side in the urgent fight against antisemitism as well as in the battle against all hatreds that fracture society,” Arfi wrote in a statement.
Bayrou was the subject of a controversy this week for saying during a televised interview that “What’s happening in Gaza is a stain not only on the history of Israel, but on a part of the history of the Jews of the world.”
Bayrou’s comments, occurring amid a wave of antisemitic violence and hate in France, were seen by critics as an endorsement of the so-called new antisemitism phenomenon, in which Jews are targeted by perpetrators, often Arab or Muslim ones, in connection with Israel.
Bayrou’s remarks came on the backdrop of a crisis in bilateral relations between Israel and France, which has escalated into a row between Paris and Washington. Macron’s administration has imposed an arms embargo on Israel, which he has accused of “barbarism” in Gaza. France said it would recognize a Palestinian state this month, drawing objections by U.S. Ambassador to France Charles Kushner, among other U.S. officials.
Some French Jews do not believe that diplomatic tensions will subside under Bayrou’s successor, noting that he had been involved in imposing the arms embargo on Israel during his previous stint as minister of the armed forces.
On X, Yoann Taïeb, a prominent French-Jewish journalist, reminded Arfi that Lecornu is “the minister who ordered the boycott of Israeli defense firms and the embargo on arms sales to Israel.”
On Wednesday, Macron condemned Israel for the second time for carrying out a precision strike on Tuesday in Qatar against a Hamas delegation.
“These strikes are unacceptable. I condemn them,” Macron wrote, adding he had, during a talk with Qatar’s leader, “reaffirmed France’s commitment to the sovereignty and security of Qatar.”
He said he had also expressed my wish for the continuation of negotiations for the release of all hostages still held by Hamas, adding: “I paid tribute to Qatar’s constant efforts toward this goal. This permanent state of war in Gaza cannot continue.”
Macron also tweeted a similar statement in Arabic, to which Amichai Chikli, Israel’s minister for diaspora affairs and combating antisemitism, replied in Arabic on X: “I thought that the Qataris only bought [the] Paris Saint-Germain [soccer team], but it seems they also bought Macron.”
Bruno Benjamin, the former president of the CRIF chapter in Marseille, home to France’s second-largest Jewish community, said France should “address its rhetoric, which is seen as partial, on Israel” and “support Israel’s fight on terrorism,” but he added he does not expect to see this happening under the new prime minister.
“In my opinion, as long as Emmanuel Macron remains president and the war continues, France’s support for Israel will remain fragile and often compromised,” Benjamin told JNS. “Gestures of friendship will happen occasionally, but the political line will remain ambivalent, as it seeks above all to accommodate all parties, sometimes at the cost of injustice to Israel.”
As for Lecornu’s appointment, “I do not see, at this stage, any major departure from the line followed until now. His past in the state apparatus does not suggest a radical change,” said Benjamin.
Growing polarization within French society “risks further exacerbating this imbalance: the government, under pressure from the public and certain ideological sources, will likely opt for a discourse that appeases domestic public opinion, even if it means hurting Israel,” he added.
Canaan Lidor
Source: https://www.jns.org/frances-new-premier-draws-mixed-jewish-reactions/
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