Macron warns of resurgent demons of antisemitism as France honors Alfred Dreyfus
PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron On Sunday he condemned the resurgence of the “demons of anti-Semitism” darkening the darkness France past and present.
The French leader and others were unveiling a statue commemorating Captain Alfred Dreyfus, whose wrongful 19th-century treason conviction revealed deep-seated anti-Semitic prejudices in France. Sunday marks 120 years since Dreyfus was exonerated by France’s highest court; The statue currently stands here.
Hours before the ceremony, police evacuated about 300 people from the Paris suburb of Sarcelles after intelligence services spotted a suspicious vehicle containing military weapons near a synagogue. Sarcelles has a significant Jewish population and prosecutors have opened a terrorism investigation.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the vehicle contained a “long military weapon” and it was unclear whether the weapon was aimed at the Jewish community.
France is home to Europe’s largest Jewish population, and following the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, and subsequent attacks, there was an increase in antisemitic actions, including threats, vandalism, and physical violence. war in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Ambassador to France Charles Kushner Accused Macron of further fueling antisemitism Recognized Palestine last year.
Speaking at Sunday’s Dreyfus ceremony, the French president said, “We know that the old demons of anti-Semitism have never completely disappeared from our country,” and called for continued vigilance to prevent actions that “target people because of who they are.”
Dreyfus, who was Jewish, was accused of giving military secrets to Germany and was convicted of treason in 1894 and sentenced to life imprisonment. Leading intellectuals, including the novelist Emile Zola, argued that Dreyfus had been scapegoated by the French army.
He was acquitted of all charges by the Supreme Court, France’s highest court, on July 12, 1906. Starting this year, Macron declared July 12 as a national day to commemorate the innocence of Dreyfus.
After his exoneration, Dreyfuss rejoined the French army and served in World War I. He died in 1935.
Among those attending Sunday’s ceremony was Dreyfus’s 99-year-old grandson, Charles.
Charles Dreyfus said, “I must regretfully confess that I could not have imagined that at my age, anti-Semitism would re-emerge so violently in our country.”
But his sadness was tempered by the “profound joy” of seeing a statue of his grandfather erected outside the Palace of Justice, showing Dreyfus proudly wielding a broken sword.
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Associated Press writer Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.
