Herzog condemns verbal attack on French Jewish philosopher

Jewish Agency head Isaac Herzog condemned the recent attack on Prof. Alain Finkielkraut, a noted Jewish French philosopher, by “yellow vest” protesters in Paris over the weekend.

Herzog also asserted that the Pittsburgh massacre, in which 11 Jews were murdered, was not an isolated incident but part of a wider pattern of growing antisemitism around the world.

“The recent event in which Professor Alain Finkielkraut, a French Jew walking the streets of Paris, was chased and attacked by antisemitic extremists telling him to get out of the country and cursing him as a Zionist is shocking,” Herzog said. “This incident and that of the attack in Pittsburgh and other antisemitic attacks around the world don’t stand alone.”

Finkielkraut was verbally assaulted in Paris on Saturday by yellow vest protesters who called him a “dirty Jew” and a “dirty Zionist s***,” and yelled at him, “You’re going to die,” and “You’re going to hell.”

“The political divide whereby extremists from the extreme Right and the extreme Left use antisemitism to serve their needs, plus the culture of hate emanating from social media where the real dirt of the world express themselves, creates a platform of haters which is very dangerous,” Herzog continued.

Herzog said that rising antisemitism should be tackled by bolstering security at Jewish institutions while at the same time working with national governments to improve education on antisemitism and Holocaust history.

He also said that the widely accepted definition of antisemitism by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance should be adopted in legislation by countries throughout the European Union.