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French President Emmanuel Macron called on Friday for “mandatory electoral bans” for officials guilty of “antisemitic, racist, and discriminatory acts and remarks.”
Speaking at an Élysée Palace memorial ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of the death of Ilan Halimi, a young French Jewish man who was kidnapped, tortured, and murdered by an antisemitic gang in Paris in 2006, Macron decried the “antisemitic hydra” spreading across France.
“In 20 years, and despite the resolute efforts of our police officers, gendarmes, judges, teachers and elected officials, the antisemitic hydra has kept advancing,” Macron said. “Constantly assuming new faces, it has insinuated itself into the heart of our societies, into every crevice, too often accompanied by that same pact of cowardice — to keep silent, to refuse to see.”
“All too often, the sentences handed down against the perpetrators of antisemitic offenses and crimes seem derisory,” Macron noted.
He went on to vow, “Government and parliament will work to strengthen the penalties for antisemitic and racist acts.”
In his remarks, Macron also denounced “Islamist antisemitism which was behind the pogrom of October 7,” as well as “far-left antisemitism,” saying it “rivals that of the far right,” and “antisemitism that uses the mask of anti-Zionism to advance quietly.”
Avec ce chêne à l’Élysée, le souvenir d’Ilan Halimi vivra dans le cœur et l’esprit de tous les occupants de ces lieux. Comme un rappel et une exigence. La République et le souvenir d’Ilan sont indéracinables. pic.twitter.com/MkwnKaLUSK
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) February 13, 2026
Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) Director of European Affairs Shannon Seban welcomed Macron’s pledge to hold elected officials accountable for antisemitic conduct and rhetoric, calling the move “both necessary and commendable.”
“Political leaders must not be allowed to enjoy impunity by hiding behind the tricolor flag of the Republic,” she said.
Seban urged Macron to go further, questioning why an incident last August in which a tree planted in memory of Halimi in Epinay-sur-Seine was cut down was not treated by French authorities as a case of antisemitism.
“If the law fails to name antisemitism when it is obvious, it weakens public trust and reinforces the very impunity it seeks to combat,” she said.
Seban attended a memorial ceremony at Ilan Halimi Park in Paris on Friday.
13 février 2006 – 13 février 2026 : Ilan Halimi, 20 ans que tu nous as quittés. J’ai un message pour toi.
En ce 13 février 2026, au matin, à ma descente de l’avion, après quelques jours passés au Canada pour des rencontres institutionnelles et politiques autour de la lutte… pic.twitter.com/Ml6e9LL9za
— Shannon Seban (@ShannonSeban) February 13, 2026
France is home to the largest Jewish community in Europe and the third biggest in the world after Israel and the United States.
In the aftermath of the October 7th massacre two years ago, France experienced a dramatic surge in antisemitic hate crimes. According to Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF) data, 1,570 antisemitic incidents were recorded in 2024, compared to 1,676 the previous year. In 2022, by comparison, a total of 436 incidents were reported.
Over the past decade, Paris — France’s capital and the epicenter of Jewish life in the country — has seen several shocking incidents of antisemitic violence, including the Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket attack in 2015, and the brutal killings of elderly Jewish women Sarah Halimi and Mireille Knoll in 2017 and 2018.
20 years ago, Ilan Halimi, a young French Jewish man, was kidnapped by the “Gang of the Barbarians.”
He was tortured for 24 days and killed for being Jewish.
This year, the tree planted in his memory was chainsawed twice.
May Ilan’s memory be a blessing.
We will never forget… pic.twitter.com/3JetQbr4ZS— Combat Antisemitism Movement (@CombatASemitism) February 13, 2026
