Jerusalem (AFP) — Israeli Immigration Minister Yoav Gallant called Tuesday on French Jews to “come home” to Israel following the anti-Semitic vandalism of a cemetery in eastern France.
“The desecration of the Jewish cemetery in France conjures images of dark times in the history of the Jewish people,” Gallant said in a statement.
“Last week I visited the Jewish community in Paris, which is under an anti-Semitic attack and in the process of assimilation.
“I firmly condemn the anti-Semitism in France and call on the Jews ?- come home, immigrate to Israel.”
Around 80 graves were discovered to have been daubed with swastikas at a Jewish cemetery in the village of Quatzenheim, close to the border with Germany in the Alsace region.
Vandalized tombs with tagged swastikas are pictured in the Jewish cemetery of Quatzenheim, eastern France, Tuesday, Feb.19, 2019. Marches and gatherings against anti-Semitism are taking place across France following a series of anti-Semitic acts that shocked the country. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)
Photos show the Nazi symbols in blue spray-painted on the damaged graves, one of which bears the words “Elsassisches Schwarzen Wolfe” (“Black Alsatian Wolves”), a separatist group with links to neo-Nazis in the 1970s.
Rallies are planned in Paris and other French cities Tuesday to denounce a flare-up of anti-Semitic vandalism in recent weeks.
Politicians on both the right and left have urged massive participation after a prominent French writer was the target of an anti-Semitic tirade by a protester in Paris on Saturday.
Last year, 2,679 Jews from France immigrated to Israel, according to Gallant’s ministry.