JLC President Appelbaum Discusses Anti-Semitism in France During U.S. Jewish Solidarity Mission
Meeting at the Office of the French Prime Minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault. Photo by Ezra Lichtfield.
February 11, 2013: France - Following the massacre at a Jewish Day School in Toulouse last year and the firebombing of a Jewish supermarket in Sarcelles, near Paris, along with a doubling of reported incidents of anti-Semitism in 2012 from the year before, leaders of the Jewish community of the United States participated in a series of meetings in France to show solidarity with the Jewish communities in France and show concern over the rise of anti-Semitism. JLC President Stuart Appelbaum traveled to France as a member of the delegation, which was organized by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
The new French Government responded enthusiastically to the opportunity to meet with the U.S. delegation during its time in France, and the officials who met with the delegation recommitted themselves to oppose the rise of anti-Semitism and racism.
Separate meetings took place with President Francois Hollande, Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and Interior Minister Manuel Valls.
French Jewish communal leadership welcomed the delegation as well and was very appreciative of the support from the U.S. Jewish community. "This expression of solidarity," President Appelbaum noted," was an opportunity for the French Government to express full-throttled opposition to anti-Semitism. It was important," he added," for us to stand with the Jewish communities in Toulouse and Paris, and indeed all of French Jewry, at this difficult time."
The delegation met with Islamic communal leaders in Toulouse, as well as the site in southern France where Jews were deported to Auschwitz. In addition to meeting with top government officials, the delegation met with a number of Christian and Muslim religious leaders, the Mayor of Paris, and the leadership of French Jewish communal organizations and of several other European Jewish communities.
The Jewish Labor Committee has deep historic roots in the struggle against anti-Semitism and fascism in Europe: we were formed in early 1934 to oppose the rise of Nazism in Germany in the early '30s. President Appelbaum said that he "felt a special connection to the situation in France, as a Jew and as a longtime member of the Jewish Labor Committee. We cannot be a people that lose its historical connections, or our memory of what happened in the too-recent past. As an integral and recognized part of the both American Jewish community and the labor movement, we of the Jewish Labor Committee have a unique role in the struggle against these acts of anti-Semitism in France."