On Tuesday, French officials urged a collective European Union response to what they described as “one of the worst explosions of antisemitism” in recent history. French European Affairs Minister Benjamin Haddad convened an emergency meeting in Brussels with his E.U. counterparts to discuss the issue.
The gathering, co-hosted by Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Caspar Veldkamp, brought together about a dozen E.U. ministers to tackle the surge of antisemitic violence across Europe since the outbreak of the Gaza conflict on Oct. 7, 2023. Haddad emphasized the need for a frank conversation about the causes of rising antisemitism and the best strategies to combat it, calling for it to be made a priority for European institutions.
The meeting was prompted by the recent mob attack in Amsterdam, where Israeli soccer fans were hunted down and attacked after a Europa League match. Dutch officials reported that Israeli fans were targeted in “hit-and-run” attacks as well as other assaults, resulting in five Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters being briefly hospitalized and El Al Airlines carrying out eight emergency flights to evacuate Israelis from the country.
Speaking after the talks, Haddad declared that Europe is witnessing “one of the worst outbreaks of antisemitism” since World War II. He stressed that the issue goes beyond the protection of European Jewish communities, stating, “When we talk about antisemitism, it is not just the defense of European Jewish communities that is at stake, it is the preservation … of our fundamental values.”
Following the mob attack, Israeli intelligence officials identified Dutch organizations with Hamas ties as the primary instigators, according to a report released by Israel’s Diaspora Affairs Ministry. The Dutch government launched an inquiry into whether alerts from Jerusalem were overlooked prior to the mob attacks.
France increased security ahead of the UEFA Nations League match between the French and Israeli national teams on Nov. 14, characterizing the event as an “increased security risk.” The match (which Israel lost by 4-0) saw a scuffle break out in the stands during the game, but nothing more than that. During a game against Belgium on Sunday (which Israel won) there were no reports of overt antisemitic or anti-Israel attacks against players or fans. The game, which was supposed to be played in Israel, ended up being played in the Bozsik Arena in Budapest due to Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas and Hezbollah.
In a separate terrorism-related event, a French court on Friday ordered the conditional release of Lebanese terrorist Georges Ibrahim Abdallah. Abdallah has been in prison since 1984 for his role in the murders of Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimantov and U.S. military attaché Col. Charles Ray in Paris. Barsimantov was murdered in front of his wife and 8-year-old son on the street in 1982.
There has been a deterioration in relations between Israel and France during the Jewish state’s defensive war over the past year against Iranian-backed terrorists. French President Emmanuel Macron, a centrist, is under a fierce attack by the left wing over his country’s bilateral relations with Israel and his administration’s attempts to limit anti-Israel rioting.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized comments made by Macron on Oct. 15 that Israel was created by the United Nations.
“A reminder to the French president: It was not a U.N. decision that established the State of Israel but the victory that was achieved in the War of Independence with the blood of our heroic fighters, many of whom were Holocaust survivors, including from the Vichy regime in France,” said the Israeli premier.
“It would also be worthwhile to recall that in recent decades, the U.N. has approved hundreds of antisemitic decisions against the State of Israel, the purpose of which is to deny the one and only Jewish state’s right to exist and its ability to defend itself,” Netanyahu continued.
Earlier in the day, Macron reportedly told a cabinet meeting in Paris that “Mr. Netanyahu must not forget that his country was created by a decision of the U.N.,” referring to U.N. General Assembly Resolution 181, adopted on Nov. 29, 1947, that planned to partition the British Mandate into two states, one Jewish, one Arab.
The resolution gave international backing for the establishment of the State of Israel, which was admitted to the United Nations as a full member on May 11, 1949.
France was one of the 33 countries that voted in favor of the partition plan.
“Therefore, this is not the time to disregard the decisions of the U.N.,” Macron added.
Netanyahu on Oct. 5 publicly rebuked Macron in an unusually harsh statement, after Macron called for a partial arms embargo on Israel.
“I have a message for President Macron. Today, Israel is defending itself on seven fronts against the enemies of civilization,” said Netanyahu. “All civilized countries should be standing firmly by Israel’s side. Yet President Macron and some other Western leaders are now calling for an arms embargo against Israel. Shame on them,” he said. “What a disgrace.”
Israel, Netanyahu said, will “win with or without their support, but their shame will continue long after the war is won.”
Macron called for sanctions on Israel in an interview aired Oct. 5 with the France Inter radio station. “I think that today, the priority is that we return to a political solution, that we stop delivering weapons to fight in Gaza. France is not delivering anything,” he said.
The Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF), a World Jewish Congress affiliate, joined Netanyahu in criticizing Macron’s statement as “playing into the hands of Hamas and Hezbollah.”
“The CRIF strongly deplores the statement by the president of the Republic calling for an embargo on arms used by Israel in the war against Hamas,” the organization tweeted at the time.
