Almost all Jewish French university students experience antisemitism - poll

Over 9 of 10 (91%) Jewish students at French universities say they experienced a minimum of one antisemitic antisemitic act during their time as a university student, according to a Thursday article from the French news outlet, Le Parisien.

The survey reported by the French news organization was commissioned by the Union of Jewish Students in France (UEJF) and conducted by leading French pollster, the French Institute of Public Opinion (IFOP).

The antisemitic acts reported by the French students included a wide spectrum of occurrences. Most commonly, these acts referred to things such as receiving Jewish-related jokes or a being faced with a stereotype about Jews. However, although comparatively more rare, the spectrum of antisemitic acts encountered by the students also ranged into things such as physically violent attacks.

The latter such occurrences were reported by 7% of Jewish students.

Although the vast majority of Jewish students reported experiencing an antisemitic act, a somewhat smaller, although still overwhelming percentage (77%), reported that they believe that antisemitism is "widespread." Specifically, this percentage of Jewish students see antisemitism as a problem more severe than other iterations of discrimination such as racism, sexism, and homophobia.

How do non-Jewish students see the issue of antisemitism?

As Le Parisien highlights, this proportion of students represents nearly the inverse of non-Jewish students who see things the same way.

Among non-Jewish students, 28% see antisemitism as widespread to a degree that surpasses other forms of discrimination. Meanwhile, 63% of non-Jewish students say other forms of discrimination as more widespread than antisemitism.

"I once again observe that antisemitism doesn't register, as if Jews were necessarily privileged, [as though everything was good for Jews].” UEJF President Samuel Lejoyeux told Le Parisien. “The way some think, we cannot be victims today."

Lejoyeux goes on to highlight what he sees as slogans associated with the Palestinian cause as tools to directly attack French Jews. He goes on to argue that antisemites attempt to make French Jews responsible for the actions of the Israeli government as a ploy to justify hatred towards them.

"The speeches that make French Jews ambassadors of the Israeli government's policy are absurd, but this old rhetoric of dual allegiance permeates minds and puts us in danger,” Lejoyeux said to Le Parisien.

Indeed, the perception that Jews hold disproportionate power in government and elsewhere seems pervasive, according to IFOP deputy director, Frédéric Dabi.

“According to half of the surveyed students, Jews are very united, 24% consider them wealthier than average, and [18% believe that Jews] have too much power in [both] finance [and] the media,” Dabi said. He notes that an additional 15% of surveyed students think that Jews have too much power in politics.

The Le Parisien report quotes Marie-Anne Matard-Bonucci, who heads a diploma program focused on training to combat racism and antisemitism at University Paris 8 in Saint-Denis, who says that “antisemitism has returned to its level of ten to fifteen years ago, very clearly. It is present at universities as elsewhere, no more and no less.”

According to the article, the IFOP survey was conducted online between June and September 802 respondents. The respondents were representative of the French student population, 237 of them identifying as Jews.

Guillaume Maignan contributed to this report.