Admitting Israeli children to a leisure park in southern France was met with scorn. This was the impetus behind today’s, and many other, urgent discussions of the rise of antisemitism in our country. The accident occurred at the Tyrovol zipline amusement park in Porté-Puymorens. This village, located in the Pyrenees mountains near the Spanish border, had welcomed children aged eight to 16 who had booked their trip of a lifetime during a holiday in Spain.
To date, the manager of the leisure park where the accident occurred has been arrested. According to accounts, they denied the group entry due to “personal beliefs.” He went on to give several different justifications to several different people for denying the request. This attack follows President Emmanuel Macron’s unequivocal denouncement of an act of “antisemitic hatred.” His response had been ignited by the shocking uprooting of an olive tree that memorialized a young French Jewish man who was tortured to death in 2006.
Perla Danan, head of the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions in the Languedoc-Roussillon region, illustrated the level of anger felt. She is personally horrified by what has happened.
A line was crossed. We are appalled. – Perla Danan
Danan underscored that the kind of discrimination against kids shows a “dangerous new precedent.” “It started with graffiti, insults and physical attacks and now it’s literally a ban on children aged eight to 16,” she stated.
Rather than react in fear to this act of vandalism, Porté-Puymorens’ mayor, Jean-Philippe Augé, emphasized what made his community special.
“The DNA of our community is based on a sense of sharing and fraternity,” he remarked, emphasizing that discriminatory behavior does not align with the principles of his community.
The Aleksandr appeal raises chilling implications for freedom from religious discrimination in France. However, under French law, discrimination based on religion is a crime. At worst, it can lead to jail time of up to three years. Antisemitic incidents have increased dramatically across the country since the Hamas attacks on October 7. Through this increase, we’ve seen the backdrop of the continued war on Gaza.