After nearly 100 graves were daubed with swastikas at a Jewish cemetery in eastern France, President Emmanuel Macron vows to crack down on hate crimes as the country grapples with a surge in anti-Semitic acts.
Macron visits the cemetery in Quatzenheim in the Alsace region near Germany, a few hours ahead of nationwide rallies to denounce a surge in anti-Jewish hate crimes.
“We shall act, we shall pass laws, we shall punish,” Macron tells Jewish leaders while inspecting the 96 tombstones spray-painted with blue and yellow swastikas.
“Those who did this are not worthy of the Republic,” he says, later placing a white rose on a tombstone commemorating Jews deported to Germany during World War II.
Macron is also due to visit the Paris Holocaust memorial ahead of the anti-racism marches, called after a spate of anti-Jewish vandalism discovered in and around Paris following recent “yellow vest” protests.
French President Emmanuel Macron looks at a grave vandalized with a swastika during a visit at the Jewish cemetery in Quatzenheim, on February 19, 2019, on the day of nationwide marches against a rise in anti-Semitic attacks. (Photo by Frederick FLORIN / POOL / AFP)
— AFP
Help us report truthfully on social media
As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos.
This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world.
If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to sustain responsible multimedia reporting.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, February 19, 2019
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
