Israel PM Netanyahu condemns ‘anti-Semitic’ riots in France, expresses support for government

Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has labelled the protests erupting throughout France as “anti-Semitic”, expressing his support for the French government’s measures against rioters.

Last week Tuesday, French police shot and killed 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk – a French teen of North African descent – at point-blank range when he attempted to drive off after being stopped for illegally driving without a full license.

Despite the government and President Emmanuel Macron’s denunciation of the killing, as well as the policeman’s charge of homicide, the incident has only revived the issue of police brutality and racism in France, resulting in widespread condemnation and demonstrations.

Over the days following that killing, and as Merzouk was buried on Saturday, those demonstrations devolved into riots that erupted across France, with over 1,300 people arrested, over 45,000 police officers and gendarmes deployed, hundreds of buildings damaged, thousands of fires lit on public roads and streets and thousands of vehicles burnt.

READ: Mother of teen driver killed by French police officer alleges racial motivation in his death

One monument that was vandalised was the Holocaust memorial site in Paris, known as The Memorial to the Martyrs of the Deportation, which commemorates the 200,000 people sent from Vichy France to Nazi concentration camps during the Second World War.

Following that incident, Israeli Prime Minister stated yesterday at the weekly cabinet meeting that “Our government is closely monitoring with great concern the wave of anti-Semitic demonstrations that are engulfing France”.

He stressed that “we have witnessed criminal attacks on Jewish targets. We strongly condemn these attacks and support the French government’s fight against anti-Semitism”.

Netanyahu’s comments came as French police reportedly requested the help and advice of Israeli police in dealing with the protests and riots, with Israeli Police Commissioner, Yaakov Shabtai, then giving orders to his force to “study the causes of the series of events in France, and how the police acted before, during and after the event.”