The AJC Paris survey found that 70 percent of French Jews say they have been victims of at least one anti-Semitic incident in their lifetime, 64% have suffered anti-Semitic verbal abuse at least once, and 23% have been targets of physical violence on at least one occasion, with 10 percent saying they were attacked several times.
'Hiding' Jewish
As a result, many Jews have taken action to avoid being targeted. The survey, polled 505 French Jews and 1027 French people between October 14 and November 19, 2019, shows that 37%, refrain from using visible Jewish symbols, 25% avoid revealing their Jewish identity in the workplace, and 52% have considered leaving France.
Overall, 44% of the Jewish sample say the situation for French Jews is worse than a year ago, only 11% say it is better and 42% no better or worse.
The attacks are not restricted to a single age group with young people taking the brunt of the attacks as they are more likely to confront attackers than older people. Amongst youngest Jews, ages 18-24, the research found:
- 84% of them have suffered at last one anti-Semitic act, compared with 70% of all respondents
- 79 percent had suffered verbal abuse, compared with 64% of all respondents
- 39% faced an act of physical aggression, compared with 23% of the full Jewish sample.
Visibly religious French Jews feel the most vulnerable, with 74% of them saying they had been a victim of at least one act of verbal abuse, compared with 64% of the full Jewish sample.
The main locations where anti-Semitic incidents occur the most are in the street and school. 55% said they had been insulted or threatened on the street, and 59% said they had suffered physical abuse in the school.
54% were victims of verbal abuse, and 26% had been victims of anti-Semitic violence in schools.
But equally disturbing is the finding that 46% said they had suffered anti-Semitic verbal abuse in the workplace.
The AJC Paris study was conducted by IFOP, a leading polling firm, in partnership with Fondapol, a major French think tank.
Nearly three-quarters, 73%, of the French public, and 72% of Jews, consider antisemitism a problem that affects all of French society. 47% of the general public and 67% of the Jewish respondents say the level of antisemitism in France is high, while 27% and 22%, respectively, say it is low.
The findings come as no real surprise as thee have been a number of significant anti-Semitic attacks in recent months.
Anti-semitic attacks
Last year, police had to intervene to protect Jewish philosopher and writer Alain Finkielkraut after he was targeted while leaving his home by a group of protestors during a demonstration in central Paris last February.
In 2018, thousands gathered in the east of Paris for a silent march to condemn the gruesome killing of an 85-year-old Jewish woman, one of several anti-Semitic attacks that have rattled France's Jewish community.
And it has even been detected in the political system. In 2017 Gerard Filoche, a member of the Socialists' national bureau, was expelled after sending out an anti-Semitic tweet. There have also been a number of attacks on Jewish cemeteries over the past few year too.
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