Press release from the SPCJ
The figures for antisemitism in France in 2022
1 - Introduction
In 2022, the Ministry of the Interior and the SPCJ recorded 436 antisemitic acts
As is the case every year, this figure only partially reflects the reality of antisemitic incidents in France, since it is based solely on acts that have been reported to the police
This survey, which is based on information received from police stations, is characterized in monthly discussions between the Ministry of the Interior and the SPCJ based on a common classification and
allows us to see certain trends in the phenomenon of antisemitism in France.
The SPCJ releases today its annual study based on the survey of antisemitic acts in 2022. The purpose of this study is, on the one hand, to help understand the phenomenon and, on the other hand, to steer measures and action plans in the fight against antisemitism in order to successfully contain this scourge in France.
2 - The majority of antisemitic acts are directed against individuals
53% of anti-Semitic acts are directed against individuals
Nearly 1/4 of the attacks on property consist of damage or graffiti targeting people (damage to doors, individual mailboxes or graffiti in the common areas of a building targeting a person)
According to Ministry of the Interior's data, more than 60% of anti-religious acts against individuals are directed against Jews, even though they represent less than 1% of the French
population.
3 - Antisemitic acts are particularly violent
Nearly 10% of antisemitic acts are violent physical attacks
14% of these antisemitic physical attacks are committed with a weapon (handgun, knife, cutter, axe, scissors...)
This year, for the 13th time since the beginning of the years 2000, we have recorded yet another homicide characterized as antisemitic, where an 89-year-old Jewish man was thrown out of the window by his neighbor. We also noted the death of a young Jewish man who was run over by a streetcar while trying to escape from his attackers; additionally, a Jewish man was murdered with an axe. The judicial investigations of these two cases are underway and the perpetrators' motives have yet to be established.
René Hadjadj (z"l), assassinated on May 17, 2022
4 - A large proportion of antisemitic acts are committed in private sphere
Antisemitic acts are largely committed in the private sphere (the victims' home or workplace). Since the the legal response in this type of cases is not very effective, the victims are often harassed for several years by an antisemitic neighbor.
Nearly 1/3 of antisemitic acts are committed in the private sphere
40% of antisemitic physical attacks are committed in the private sphere
5 - In the vast majority of cases of antisemitic violence, attackers are not sentenced
This year we conducted a study of the legal response to antisemitic physical attacks committed over 5 years, from 2015 to 2019.
Our work focused solely on the victims of violent assaults that we have assisted. The results of
this survey are as follows:
63% of the cases of antisemitic attacks were dismissed
In only 1/4 of the cases the attackers were convicted
5% of the perpetrators were acquitted
In nearly 2% of cases the perpetrators were simply reminded of the law
5% of complaints resulted in a médiation process