To support their campaign for the upcoming French legislative elections, some of the tenors of French Left political party La France Insoumise thought it wise to invite Jeremy Corbyn last week – despite his history of complacency towards anti-Semitism when he was the boss of the Labour Party. The man who caused the defeat of the left in the UK, who was temporarily expelled from his party for having objected to the findings of the EHRC report on anti-Semitism in Labour (see K.’s article on the report last October), was welcomed as a strong supporter. It resulted in an immediate and legitimate indignation of all those who do not have a short memory. He was described by those who invited him as the “victim of a crude manipulation”. Is he being accused of being soft on anti-Semitism? A shameful trick to attack the left, they reply. Milo Lévy-Bruhl takes a closer look at this Franco-British issue: he recalls the elements, but above all he gives us an essential reflection, in the name of the Left, on the need to stop burying our heads in the sand with regard to the reality of a general resurgence of anti-Semitism, from which the Left itself has not been spared.
In this context, we republish Yoram Melloul’s report on the Jewish feminist activists of Marseille who take over the walls of the city to stick their slogans on anti-Semitism and the situation of Jewish women: “Jewish and proud” proclaims one of them. Religious and feminist, left-wing but not shying away from highlighting the silence that frequently reigns on anti-Semitism, the journalist recounts the tensions that these activists face. As Yoram Melloul writes, “they receive invective from orthodox Jews, or very violent insults from the extreme right. (…) [But] the activists I met testify to bad experiences on the left. Lisa, for example, hangs out with a lot of intersectional feminist movements. “Among my activist friends, we never talk about anti-Semitism. Then, during the last war with Gaza, I saw a lot of anti-Semitic messages appear. Often, when I hear about big business in very left-wing circles, it is the figure of the Jew that appears.”
Finally, K. is publishing this week a short story by Michael Freund. ‘A Passover tale’, about Ukrainian Jewish refugees and the grumpy host who welcomes them: “Liliane and I are going to welcome Ukrainian refugees. Jews. I had left my contact information with a Jewish association that is looking for places to house families who have fled the war. This morning I received a call from a certain Esther who wanted to know more about the accommodation we were offering. I gave a brief description: an independent studio, adjoining our apartment, of about 350 square feet, fully furnished. Esther’s first question was whether it was kosher. I answered that no, it was not kosher, “But is it could be koshered?” she insisted. The question was rhetorical: everything can be koshered, of course, but Esther wanted to know if we were ready to welcome observant Jews. I answered curtly that we were not, that the studio was not kosher, that it could not be made kosher, and that I did not want any Orthodox Jews anyway.”
