Jewish Groups, Local Politicians Voice Fury Over Vicious Antisemitic Social Media Attacks on French Beauty Queen
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by Algemeiner Staff
April Benayoum, first runner-up in the Miss France competition. Photo: Twitter.
Leading French-Jewish groups, the Israeli Embassy in France, and numerous local politicians on Sunday condemned a storm of antisemitic attacks on social media against April Benayoum, a top contestant in the Miss France contest.
Benayoum, who revealed during the competition that she has an Israeli father, was competing as Miss Provence and came in first runner-up in the contest on Saturday night. Her Israeli connection, however, prompted a vicious outbreak of antisemitism, with tweets calling for her exclusion because of her Jewish heritage and others such as “Hitler forgot to exterminate you, Miss Provence.”
The Conseil Représentatif des Institutions juives de France (Crif), the umbrella organization of France’s Jewish community, called the attacks on Benayoum “vile and unacceptable!”
“All occasions appear to be good for spreading hatred of Jews and Israel,” the group added sarcastically, and demanded that Twitter take responsibility for what had happened.
#Crif – Les propos antisémites à l'encontre de @AprilBenayoum sont ignobles et inacceptables !
Toutes les occasions sont visiblement bonnes pour diffuser la haine des juifs et d'Israël.
@TwitterFrance doit prendre ses responsabilités face à ces contenus haineux. #MissFrance— CRIF (@Le_CRIF) December 20, 2020
The Ligue Internationale Contre le Racisme et l’Antisémitisme (Licra), demanded that the social media assailants face legal consequences for turning Twitter “into an antisemitic cesspool” and urged users to report antisemitic tweets.
Rendez-vous devant la justice pour les twittos qui hier soir ont transformé Twitter en cloaque antisemite contre #MissProvence Vous pouvez signaler les contenus ici afin que nous menions une action de groupe https://t.co/vtd1M4uRZn pic.twitter.com/voXl3wiKiA
— Licra (@_LICRA_) December 20, 2020
The Israeli Embassy in France also weighed in, saying, “We condemn in the strongest possible terms the surge of antisemitic and anti-Zionist hatred on social networks last night” and pledged “full support” for Benayoum.
Nous condamnons avec la plus grande fermeté le déferlement de haine #antisémite et #antisioniste sur les réseaux sociaux hier soir, à l’encontre de #MissProvence @aprilbenayoum durant l’élection de #MissFrance2021. Nous lui apportons tout notre soutien.
— Ambassade d’Israël (@IsraelenFrance) December 20, 2020
Local politicians also expressed anger at the incident, with the country’s Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin tweeting, “I am deeply shocked by the rain of antisemitic insults against Miss Provence. We must not let anything go. Shame on their authors.”
He added, “The police and gendarmerie services are mobilized.”
The Mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, described the antisemitic hate speech as “despicable.” He added, “All my support to April, magnificent first runner-up last night.”
La haine antisémite continue de se déchaîner librement sur les réseaux sociaux, cette fois contre April Benayoum, #MissProvence2020, en raison de ses origines israéliennes. C'est ignoble. Tout mon soutien à April, magnifique 1ère dauphine hier soir. #MissFrance2021 pic.twitter.com/80h2O4wQx2
— Christian Estrosi (@cestrosi) December 20, 2020
The President of the Région Sud Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, Renaud Muselier, said Benayoum “perfectly represents our region and our country” and called the antisemitism against her “an abomination.”
La haine antisémite contre @AprilBenayoum, notre Miss #Provence, est une abomination ! Elle est Francaise, d’origine italienne et israélienne, provençale, du Sud !
Elle représente parfaitement notre région et notre pays – soutien total à notre 1ere dauphine de #MissFrance2021!🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/JdzMXNxH9R— Renaud Muselier (@RenaudMuselier) December 20, 2020
Clémentine Autain, a National Assembly Deputy for Seine-Saint-Denis, called the antisemitic attacks “appalling,” and added, “In this matrix of violence, the Jewish people are hated for the sole reason that they are Jewish. My full support for April and all victims of anti-Semitism.”
La haine antisémite qui s'est exercée notamment sur twitter contre April Benayoun est épouvantable. Dans cette matrice de violence, le peuple juif est haï pour la seule raison qu'il est juif. Mon soutien total à April et à toutes les victimes de l'antisémitisme.#MissFrance
— Clémentine Autain (@Clem_Autain) December 20, 2020
The winner of the competition, Normandy’s Amandine Petit, was quick to offer support for her colleague.
“It’s extremely disappointing,” she said on Sunday morning in an interview with French broadcaster BFM TV.
