It is dangerous to be a Jewish artist in France. On Saturday, the well-known DJ Barbara Butch was forced to abandon her performance during a music festival in the Alpine city of Grenoble.
Butch is an icon of the LGBT movement and best-known, among international audiences, for appearing in the “Last Supper” skit during the Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
On that occasion the 45-year-old Butch infuriated conservative figures on both sides of the Atlantic with her irreverence. Donald Trump labeled the parody a “disgrace,” as did the Vatican, which deplored “the offense done to many Christians and believers of other religions.”
On Saturday, it was the far-left who took offense to the presence of Butch. Encouraged by Jean-Luc Melenchon’s la France Insoumise party (LFI), about 100 pro-Palestine activists hurled abuse at Butch as she took to the stage. Soon glass bottles were being thrown and after twenty minutes the city council closed down the concert “to ensure the safety of the audience [and] the crew.”
“The aim is simple: to subject artists and culture to LFI’s political agenda”
Butch is Jewish, and earlier this year she signed a tribune in support of a bill that had been tabled to address the rise in France of “renewed forms of anti-Semitism.” The legislation was supported by the right and some centrists, but it was furiously opposed by most on the left who said it would prevent criticism of Israel. Consequently the bill was suspended.
Butch hasn’t been forgiven by the far-left for supporting the bill and in the eyes of many has gone from hero to villain. One member of LFI who was at the concert, Allan Brunon, a local councilor, said the party was “extremely proud to have taken part in this peaceful demonstration.”
A poll in 2024 reported that 92 percent of French Jews believed LFI had played a role in the recent rise of anti-Semitism in the Republic. Things have got worse since, not just for ordinary members of the public but also for artists.
Last year the Jewish stand-up comedian Rosa Bursztein was targeted for anti-Semitic abuse, and in November pro-Palestine activists stormed a performance in Paris by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. The protestors let off flares in the auditorium and scuffled with members of the audience.
Manon Aubry, a senior figure within LFI, refused to condemn the violence, saying that the musicians “represent the Israeli state [which] commits war crimes.”
On Monday the newspaper Le Monde published an op-ed by Barbara Butch, in which she said that “a line had been crossed” on Saturday evening: “The line separating protest from coercion, disagreement from intimidation, speech from violence. They were no longer responding to an artist; they were driving her off the stage.”
These comments were echoed by Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France (CRIF). He accused the far-left of exploiting the Palestinian cause to “terrorize the cultural world and target Jewish artists… the aim is simple: to subject artists and culture to LFI’s political agenda.”
Catherine Pégard, the Culture Minister, has promised to meet Barbara Butch in the coming days to “reaffirm our unwavering support for artistic freedom and the values of the Republic.”
“Support” was the word used on Monday by Charles Kushner, America’s Jewish ambassador to France, as he hosted one of France’s most prominent Jewish politicians. Sarah Knafo, the No. 2 in Eric Zemmour’s Reconquest party, has been warning for many months about the resurgence in anti-Semitism. On Monday Kushner offered his “support for the French Jewish community.”
Last year Kushner accused Emmanuel Macron in a letter of turning a blind eye to the rampant anti-Semitism. “I write out of deep concern over the dramatic rise of anti-Semitism in France and the lack of sufficient action by your government to confront it,” he explained to the president.
Kushner’s comments were not well received. A foreign ministry statement described them as “unacceptable” and the ambassador was summoned for a dressing down. It is easier for Macron’s administration to shoot the messenger rather than confront a crisis that is spiraling out of control.
Kushner warned Macron that “not a day passes without Jews assaulted in the street, synagogues or schools defaced, or Jewish-owned businesses vandalized.”
To that list can now be added the intimidation of artists. No Jew is safe in Emmanuel Macron’s France.
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