Paris Theater Director Denounced for Speech That Incited Antisemitic Harassment of Jewish High School Students

Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) Executive Director of European Affairs Shannon Seban sent an open letter this week to Frédéric Biessy — director of the La Scala Theater in Paris, France — following a recent speech he delivered to a group of high schoolers that incited antisemitic harassment of Jewish students.

In his remarks, Biessy called U.S. President Donald Trump a “moron” who “set the word on fire” aided by an “unhinged” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He also made several references to the “liberation of Palestine.”

After Biessy spoke, Jewish students in the audience faced taunts and insults from their peers, including a threat of “We’re going to genocide you all.”

Responding to the controversy that ensued, Biessy issued a statement expressing “regret” for “political remarks” that “may have caused shock, hurt, or discomfort.” He claimed his intention “was never to target a religion or a community.”

In her letter, Seban said Biessy’s statement was insufficient. She wrote:

I have taken note of your apologies following the antisemitic outbursts that occurred during a school performance at La Scala on June 4.

I regret to inform you: apologies refused.

In front of several hundred high school students, among whom were Jewish pupils from a religious school and from the Lycée Pasteur in Neuilly, you chose to turn a cultural event into a political platform.

After attacking Donald Trump, Vincent Bolloré, and Benjamin Netanyahu, while repeatedly referencing the “liberation of Palestine,” you contributed to creating an atmosphere that quickly spiraled out of control.

According to the accounts reported, Jewish students were then singled out, insulted, humiliated, threatened. Some were even spat on. Political slogans turned into targeted intimidation. And among them, this chilling phrase: “We’re going to genocide you all.”

Teenagers who had come to present work prepared over an entire year left the venue amid jeers

And what strikes almost as much as the events themselves is what did not happen: no intervention commensurate with the situation. No immediate call to order. No effective protection for these students.

You would have us believe that no one could foresee that a militant speech on Israel and Palestine, delivered to an audience of high school students, might have immediate consequences for the Jewish students present in the room.

Who could seriously believe that?

You deplore the outbursts, but you refuse to acknowledge the role your own intervention may have played. You condemn the fire after spending your time playing with matches.

This is the classic behavior of the arsonist firefighter: stoke passions, flatter militant reflexes, reap applause, then suddenly discover a vocation for moderation when the scandal breaks and accountability looms.

Perhaps the most shocking is this inability to grasp what many French Jews are experiencing today. You seem to think that one can still obsessively address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict without measuring the concrete repercussions it has in schools, universities, theaters, or the streets of France.

You run a theater. You do not have the right to feign naivety.

You knew this issue has become one of the main drivers of tensions in our country. You knew Jewish students were in that room.

You knew your words would not be received as an academic lecture on geopolitics but as a militant stance.

And despite that, you spoke.

It is behaviors like yours that, when pieced together, contribute to making antisemitism seem acceptable.

Apologies refused.

Débordements antisémites visant des lycéens au théâtre La Scala à Paris le 4 juin 2026.@FredericBiessy, directeur de La Scala
présente ses excuses.

LETTRE OUVERTE À FRÉDÉRIC BIESSY. EXCUSES REFUSÉES. ⬇️

Monsieur Biessy,

J’ai pris connaissance de vos excuses à la suite des… pic.twitter.com/Y7ev3EVdTN

— Shannon Seban (@ShannonSeban) June 10, 2026