Demonstrators who gathered in Paris Saturday to protest the police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota last month waved Palestine Liberation Organization flags and chanting anti-Semitic slogans during the rally.
During Saturday’s Black Lives Matter rally at the Place de la République in Paris, some of the demonstrators chanted anti-Semitic slogans including “dirty Jews” and “Jewish whores”.
A number of participants at the rally carried signs bearing anti-Israel messages, including “Israel: the laboratory for police violence” and “Enough of Israel’s massacres! Justice and freedom for Palestine.”
Some signs accused Israel of training the Minneapolis police officers involved in the killing of George Floyd, with at least one sign reading “The police officers who killed George Floyd were trained in Israel.”
French MP Meyer Habib (Union of Democrats and Independents) excoriated the demonstrators, and said the bigotry seen during the protest highlighted the link between the French far-left and radical Islamists.
“What did they shout at an ‘anti-racism’ rally? ‘Dirty Jews’ and hatred of Israel,” said MP Habib.
“They waved the flag of hatred against whites, against Jews, and against France. The link between the radical Left and radical Islamist activists is in the [movement’s] DNA. It doesn’t matter what the purpose of the protest is, we once again see hatred against Jews and hatred of Israel – against the Jews in general and Israel in particular is targeted.”
Habib went on to reject the accusations against Israel put forth by demonstrators.
“Is Israel an apartheid state? A racist country? In [Israel’s] political system, in the army, in the culture, it doesn’t matter what the color of your skin is or your religion, there is equality and everyone has the same rights. Who really is the one stoking racism here?”
“Today I’m not worried about Israel, but I am a bit concerned about the Jews of France, and |I am especially worried about France.”