Eric Zemmour does not encumber himself with nuance: everything that goes beyond, clashes, dissent, must be deleted. It is the quest for a stunted and monochrome France. And unfortunately, the Jews, it does not fit well … Some even say that we were invented for that. The Jews are moreover doubly victims of Eric Zemmour’s speech: once victims of what he says, another of the place from which he speaks. Once, politically, another, symbolically. Politically, what he offers tastes and smells of old classics of the far right. Eric Zemmour attacks at all times. In the past, first: “Pétain saved the French Jews” (October 2019), a fanciful revision of history. In the present then: “the Yarmulke is a kind of religious selfie” (January 2016) or yesterday morning by wanting to “oblige to give French first names”. The Eytan, Deborah, Ilan, Rivka, Amir, Shirel, Gad … and the French who wear the kippah will appreciate. In the future, finally, since Eric Zemmour even arrogates to himself the right to determine the legitimacy of our burial sites. Even dead, we are guilty. For Eric Zemmour, being buried in Israel is funeral escape! Basically, nothing very new. Eric Zemmour, these are the provocations of Jean-Marie Le Pen with the look of Bruno Mégret. But the highest price Jews pay is not just bringing this political junk back to the fore. No. What is most unbearable is that these provocations are the expression of a personality widely identified as Jewish. I’m not trying to analyze Eric Zemmour’s relationship to his Jewish identity. This intimate relationship belongs to him and I claim for each one, and therefore for him too, the right to escape any assignment of identity. What is certain, however, is that his words would not find such an echo if they were not formulated by a personality perceived as Jewish. Linguists and communicators know that the identity of the speaker counts in receiving the message. And in this case, that a personality bearing a Jewish name, promote the discourse of exclusion aimed in particular at Jews and Muslims, gives an unprecedented legitimacy to the matter. Whether he likes it or not, Eric Zemmour is helping to bring to the far right what Marine Le Pen has been looking for for a long time: a “kosher” certificate which she hopes will give it new legitimacy. This dimension may seem secondary to what Zemmour said, but for me, it is the most unacceptable. The one that hurts me the most. As Jews, of course, we are not responsible for Eric Zemmour’s words. But we have a responsibility to get in their way.
Yonathan Arfi
Vice-President of CRIF
Eric Zemmour: the double punishment of French Jews. By Yonathan Arfi. Vice-President of CRIF
