CRIF Dinner: de Villepin and Mélenchon criticized for their support for Gaza

The Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF) held its 39th annual dinner in Paris on Thursday. "This year again, for French Jews, it's a time of concern," said Yonathan Arfi, president of CRIF, deploring a "wave of anti-Semitism since October 7." Among the guests were several ministers and Senate President Gérard Larcher.

In a speech with highly political overtones, Yonathan Arfi, the head of the CRIF, attacked elected officials "who choose to fan the flames" with "excesses" and " culpable shortcuts ." Among them, "there is one with a worldly populism and inimitable eloquence," he added, asserting that " Dominique de Villepin has become a Mélenchon of the wealthy neighborhoods ."

Yonathan Arfi, recently re-elected for three years , reiterated his criticism of LFI leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon who "reduces Gaza to an electoral slogan", and his promise to "restore the political influence of La France Insoumise".

Returning to the war between Israel and Iran, he also deplored "the erratic positions of certain European diplomacies" including "that of our country."

He thus regretted that despite "its support for strikes against the Iranian nuclear threat," the French government had blocked access to the Israeli stand at the Paris Air Show in June.

François Bayrou then declared that the situation in Gaza, " morally unacceptable ," required "disapproval" and "distance." Citing an "intimacy with the Jewish soul within the French soul," the Prime Minister stated that "this does not prevent us from expressing the concerns, worries, and disagreements we have with the Israeli government, such as regarding the humanitarian situation in Gaza ."

On the recognition of a Palestinian state , raised by the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron, Yonathan Arfi asked : "Why (...) risk offering a terrorist organization the opportunity to claim a symbolic victory?"

François Bayrou assured that "there can be no balance based on law in the Middle East until Israel is recognized by its neighbors as having the legitimacy to exist, and protected against the nuclear fire of those who have never ceased to proclaim their sole intention to destroy it."

And "there cannot be lasting peace in the Middle East, which for France requires a two-state solution, without a ceasefire, absolute condemnation of October 7 and the release of all hostages," he added.

The head of the CRIF also thanked the public authorities who "are ensuring that our legislative arsenal is updated" in the face of anti-Semitism and all forms of hatred. On Wednesday, Parliament adopted a bill aimed at combating anti-Semitism in higher education, and a conference on combating anti-Semitism was launched in 2024.

Between January and May 2025, a total of 504 anti-Semitic acts were recorded (including 323 attacks on individuals), according to the Ministry of the Interior. This represents a 24% decrease over one year, but a doubling (+134%) compared to the same period in 2013.

Faced with this phenomenon, Prime Minister François assured that "the Minister of Justice will soon transmit a circular to all public prosecutors' offices in France, specifying the methods which allow anti-Semitism to be uncovered" based in particular "on the definition given by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance."

Furthermore, "the resources of the national prosecutor's office to combat online hatred will be strengthened" and the Pharos reporting platform "will be further developed," he promised without giving further details.

As for schools, the government wants "an in-depth study of national emancipation movements in the Middle East to be integrated into the history curriculum," added François Bayrou.