{"id":175605,"date":"2025-12-09T09:33:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T09:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/175605\/"},"modified":"2025-12-09T09:33:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T09:33:11","slug":"european-leaders-warn-of-soaring-antisemitism-at-paris-gathering-history-must-not-r","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/175605\/","title":{"rendered":"European leaders warn of soaring antisemitism at Paris gathering: ‘History must not r"},"content":{"rendered":"

The summit, organized by the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM), convened in the 19th-century reception hall of Paris City Hall. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo told participants that the city remains \u201ccommitted to the fight against antisemitism,\u201d and noted the deep historical connection between Paris and its longstanding Jewish community.<\/p>\n

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The gathering comes a decade after the 2015 terror attacks in France \u2014 including the killings at Charlie Hebdo, the Hyper Cacher supermarket and the Bataclan concert hall \u2014 events that were referenced repeatedly as warnings of how extremism can spread when left unchecked.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s event drew 104 mayors and 130 public officials from across Europe, nearly all of whom are not Jewish. Organizers said local leaders are searching for practical tools to confront rising hatred and strengthen ties with Jewish communities. Sacha Roytman, CAM\u2019s CEO, said mayors \u201chave the ability and the power to act proactively and defend the communities in their cities,\u201d adding that the conference aims to ensure \u201chistory does not repeat itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Sacha Roytman <\/p>\n

(Photo: Leah Marciano)<\/p>\n

Yonathan Arfi, president of CRIF, France\u2019s umbrella organization for Jewish institutions, warned that Europe risks losing its Jewish population if trends continue. \u201cAntisemitism begins with Jews but never ends with them,\u201d he said, adding that a ceasefire in Gaza does not translate into a ceasefire in antisemitism across Europe.<\/p>\n

Data presented at the summit showed the scale of the challenge. Shannon Seban, CAM\u2019s director of European affairs and a council member in Rosny-sous-Bois, said the organization recorded more than 206,000 antisemitic incidents across Europe by mid-November 2025. She spoke about the hostility she has faced personally but also highlighted cases where local mayors helped reverse dangerous trends.<\/p>\n

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Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo <\/p>\n

(Photo: Leah Marciano)<\/p>\n

One of the summit\u2019s recognized figures was Lorenzo Rodriguez P\u00e9rez, mayor of the Spanish village Castrillo Mota de Jud\u00edos (\u201cHill of the Jews\u201d). He was honored for leading a 2015 referendum to restore the village\u2019s historic name, replacing the previous one meaning \u201cDeath to the Jews,\u201d despite neo-Nazi attacks and recent pro-Palestinian protests in the area.<\/p>\n

From the United Kingdom, Councillor Alex Yip of Birmingham described challenges in a city where half the population is of immigrant background and the Muslim community is far larger than the Jewish one. He criticized the mishandling of a recent debate over permitting Maccabi Tel Aviv fans to attend a match against Aston Villa, saying officials failed to consult the Jewish community or understand sensitivities around antisemitism. The summit, he said, showed him Birmingham \u201cis not alone in this struggle.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Peter Paltchik <\/p>\n

(Photo: Leah Marciano)<\/p>\n

Israeli Olympic judoka Peter Paltchik, one of the summit\u2019s honored guests, recounted how opponents from countries hostile to Israel increasingly refuse to shake his hand \u2014 including a longtime acquaintance who told him, \u201cI don\u2019t shake hands with terrorists,\u201d days before the Paris Olympics. The comment, he said, left him stunned.<\/p>\n

Jewish and Israeli students in Europe are also facing heightened hostility. David Benatar Zamora, who oversees antisemitism response for the Jewish Youth Federation of Spain, said Jewish students in Madrid often feel pressured to prove they are \u201cgood Jews\u201d depending on their political views. \u201cYou\u2019re more likely to encounter a Spanish neo-Nazi on the street than a Jew,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In Belgium, the situation is similarly fraught. Prof. Jo\u00ebl Kotek, a political scientist and expert on genocide and antisemitism at the Universit\u00e9 Libre de Bruxelles, said he has been excluded from events for challenging claims of genocide in Gaza, despite not supporting Israel\u2019s government. He noted that Jewish lawmaker Viviane Teitelbaum, who sits on the university\u2019s administrative council, has received death threats. With only about 30,000 Jews and more than 700,000 Muslims in Belgium, he said, many Belgian Jews feel growing pressure to consider emigration.<\/p>\n

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Katarina von Schnurbein <\/p>\n

(Photo: Leah Marciano)<\/p>\n

The European Union\u2019s coordinator for combating antisemitism, Katarina von Schnurbein, addressed the summit to outline EU support mechanisms. She highlighted the bloc\u2019s 2021\u20132030 strategy for combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life, noting that more than \u20ac22 million was invested between 2021 and 2023. The EU has launched roughly 90 initiatives in the past year alone, including programs to counter incitement, monitor attacks, advance Holocaust education and train police forces to recognize antisemitic incidents. \u201cEurope has seen dark times before,\u201d she said, \u201cbut there have always been those who stood up. Today, we are working to build the structures that will prevent history from repeating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many participants expressed concern that, despite rising antisemitism, public opinion surveys show most Europeans do not view combating it as a priority. Still, organizers found encouragement in the strong turnout. A parallel conference of French mayors \u2014 representing towns far from Paris\u2019 political center \u2014 brought unexpected solidarity. Representatives of CRIF said many local leaders visited their booth seeking advice on how to support Jewish residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrench society supports the Jewish community and Israel far more than it may appear,\u201d one organizer said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The summit, organized by the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM), convened in the 19th-century reception hall of Paris City…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":175606,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-175605","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}