February 20, 2019 — Paris, France
American Jewish Committee (AJC) praised French President Emmanuel Macron’s call tonight for France to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of antisemitism.
The president’s pledge came during his address to the annual dinner of CRIF, the umbrella organization representing French Jews, which took place amidst a new surge in attacks on Jews and Jewish sites in the country.
“For the first time in many years, antisemitism is killing people again in France,” said Macron, adding that French authorities “did not know how to react effectively.”
AJC, the global Jewish advocacy organization, has long advocated for adoption by European governments of the working definition as a vital tool to mobilize against antisemitism.
Earlier this week, in high-level meetings in Paris and in an oped in Le Figaro, the national newspaper, AJC urged France’s political leadership to re-examine the efficacy of current strategies to combat rising antisemitism in France. The AJC call for action came following the release of a government report showing a 74 percent spike in antisemitic incidents during 2018, compared to the previous year.
“President Macron’s declaration endorsing the working definition is critically important and most welcome,” said Simone Rodan-Benzaquen, Director of AJC Europe, who attended the CRIF dinner. “However, additional substantive, sustained, and meaningful steps are urgently required to seriously confront the scourge of antisemitism that has strikingly strong roots in French society.”
AJC has worked closely with successive French governments, praising the launch four years ago of a comprehensive plan to fight antisemitism and racism that included creation of the senior position of Inter-ministerial Delegate to Fight against Racism and antisemitism.
“Clearly, well-intentioned government efforts over the past 18 years to effectively combat antisemitism have fallen short,” said Rodan -Benzaquen. “We at AJC will admit to considerable frustration that our efforts, as friends of France and beginning in 2001 with the Chirac presidency, took so long to bear any real fruit, but in this case better late than never.”
The IHRA definition, adopted by the alliance’s 31-member states in 2016, is based on the 2005 European Monitoring Centre (EUMC) Working Definition. It offers a clear and comprehensive description of antisemitism in its various forms, including hatred and discrimination against Jews, Holocaust denial, and, of particular note, antisemitism as it relates to Israel. France is a member of the IHRA.
AJC worked closely over a decade ago with the EUMC in developing this working definition as a tool for monitors and law-enforcement officials.
