Radiography of anti-Semitism in 2024

In 2023, the Jewish Community Protection Service (SPCJ) and the French Ministry of the Interior recorded 1,676 anti-Semitic acts. Nearly 60% of these were directed against individuals, and most often took the form of threatening gestures and words. Between January and September 2023, the SPCJ and the Ministry of the Interior recorded an average of around 40 acts per month. From October 7, the day of the Hamas attack on Israeli territory, this figure exploded, with an increase of over 1000%. It’s a constant: media coverage of an extremely serious anti-Semitic event acts as a catalyst, almost systematically triggering an upsurge in manifestations of anti-Jewish hatred. The SPCJ noted that the attack on the Ozar Hatorah Jewish school in Toulouse was accompanied by a 200% increase in the number of anti-Semitic acts reported. The same phenomenon was also observed after the Hypercasher attack. While this dynamic is not new, it has taken on unprecedented proportions since October 7. The Hamas massacre sent shockwaves through Jewish communities the world over, and through Western public opinion. The sheer number of victims in relation to the country’s population, the fact that the majority were civilians – often women and children – and the nature of the abuses committed probably explain the horror felt. By describing the attack as a “pogrom”, Jewish communities associate it with the tragedies of the twentieth century. In France, the repercussions of the attack were particularly notable. In addition to the horror of discovering that even the Jewish State was not an infallible bulwark against anti-Semitism, French Jews were worried about their loved ones in Israel. In this respect, the attachment of French Jews to the Hebrew state must be understood not only in terms of the fact that the country is perceived as a refuge from persecution, but also in terms of the many family and cultural ties between the two states. Since October 7, French Jews have been living through a particularly trying period. In addition to the pain caused by Hamas’ atrocities, there has been an upsurge in anti-Semitic acts in France. Although a number of media reports have highlighted this difficult situation, no specific quantitative analysis has yet been undertaken to systematically assess its impact. The American Jewish Comittee (AJC), the Fondation pour l’innovation Politique (Fondapol) and the French public opinion institute (IFOP) have been collaborating since 2014 on studies designed to better understand the phenomenon of anti-Semitism. This new study is part of an X-ray conducted since 2019. In this respect, this 2024 edition continues this effort with a resolutely barometric approach. While the methodology used has been renewed, on a like-for-like basis, in order to measure changes, it has also been continually enriched. Of particular note this year was the inclusion of a digital component produced by Deep Opinion, an IFOP Group subsidiary dedicated to social network analysis. A particularly ambitious methodological approach was adopted. Three quantitative surveys were conducted more or less simultaneously over the Internet between February 12 and March 22, 2024.