Wiesenthal Centre Shocked at "Jewish Dual Loyalty" Stereotyping by French MP

Paris - In December 2019, the Wiesenthal Centre sat in the French Assemblée Nationale (lower chamber of Parliament) to witness thehistoric adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Definition of Antisemitism. The vast majority approved, with the exception of populist extreme-left La FranceInsoumise (LFI - “France Unbowed”) and a few other sparse deputies.

This week, LFI Member of Parliament Sylvie Ferrer - elected in Toulouse - called on the Ministry of Justice to take action againstthe “direct and indirect participation of French citizens in illegal acts.” She apparently referred to French - presumably Jewish - citizens who volunteer in the Israel DefenseForces.

Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels commented: “In doing so, she implicitly raised thesuspicion of the 'dual loyalty' of French Jews... a classical antisemitic trope, included among the contemporary examples of the IHRA Definition of Antisemitism, i.e. ‘Accusing Jewish citizens ofbeing more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations’.”

In her anti-Israel obsession, MP Ferrer mentioned French citizens involved “in Israeli military programs and indirect financialsupport for the IDF.” Would this also include any research or industrial defence cooperation benefitting both countries?

Her explicit demonization of Israel and its right to defend itself - quoting “non compliance with UN Resolutions... and illegal actsby the [Israeli] regular Army...” is compounded by her application of double standards.

Perhaps Madam Ferrer has forgotten the spurious charges against French Jewish Officer Alfred Dreyfus for treason? Or perhaps shecould blast the French Foreign Legion, or perhaps the many Jews in the French Resistance against the Nazis and the Vichy regime? Indeed, why does she not attack the neo-Nazisrecently discovered in today's French Army?

In fact, she does actively campaign for the liberation of a Palestinian-Lebanese terrorist, Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, that Francesentenced to life in prison in 1987 for the 1982 murders of US Military Attaché, Lt. Colonel Charles R. Ray, and of Israeli diplomat Yaakov Bar-Simantov outside his home in Paris, aswell as involvement in the 1984 attempted assassination of former American consul in Strasbourg.

Incidentally, her constituency, Toulouse, was the theatre of the most abject antisemitic Jihadi terror attack... where a lone wolfattacked the Otzar Hatorah school, murdering 3 and 5-year-old brothers together with their father, and an 8-year-old girl at point blank range.

Toulouse is also the base of outlawed (in March 2022) - but still reportedly active - Collectif Palestine Vaincra (CPV, "AssociationPalestine Will Vanquish"), which has ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a terrorist group combining Arab nationalism with Marxist-Leninist ideology.

“We wonder if she has ever expressed similar doubts on the loyalty of French citizens supporting Palestinian terrorist groups ordeparting to fight with Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State?” concluded Samuels.

For further information contact Dr. Shimon Samuels at csweurope@gmail.com, join the Center on Facebook, orfollow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent directly to your Twitter feed.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations in the UnitedStates. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).