The peremptory letter from the US ambassador to France, denouncing the failure of French authorities to combat the poison of antisemitism, marks a new escalation in tensions between the two countries.
Above all, it confirms the Trump Administration’s tendency to instrumentalize antisemitism for political opportunism.
The very real antisemitism observed on some American campuses after October 7 has been used by the US government to bring major universities – long vilified by Trump, the MAGA base, and more broadly the Republican Party – to heel.
It has also allowed the government to revoke the visas of students for pro-Palestinian statements or writings, which, in its view, amounted to antisemitism and support for terrorism.
It is also in the name of antisemitism that Trump once again withdrew the United States from UNESCO and more broadly targeted the UN and its agencies.
Finally, it is in the name of the fight against antisemitism that Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, justifies the continuation of settlement expansion in the West Bank, claiming that preventing Jews from living there would itself amount to antisemitism.
As for the accusations against France, they allow the United States to restate their opposition to the project of recognizing Palestine and their irritation at the leading role France has played in this matter with countries such as Australia or the United Kingdom.
Antisemitism: Trump's winning formula
As with issues like immigration, crime, or rising prices, Trump does not seek to solve problems but to seize them in order to discredit and trap his opponents. The king of political instrumentalization has found in antisemitism a winning formula.
The Democratic Party’s embarrassment in denouncing the excesses of its left wing after October 7 was thus perfectly exploited by the Republicans during the last presidential election.
This cynicism is all the more odious given that antisemitism – already high worldwide before October 7 (including in the United States, where it had quadrupled between 2015 and 2022) – has since exploded.
This issue deserves better than the trivialization and polarization to which it is subjected. By using antisemitism in every context, the Trump administration trivializes it.
By exploiting it to undermine academic freedom or freedom of expression, UN multilateralism, or a diplomatic initiative like the recognition of Palestine – however debatable – Trump turns antisemitism not into a shared cause but into a polarizing political weapon.
Throughout their history, Jews have been convenient scapegoats, allowing rulers to divert popular anger. Then, they were used unknowingly, at the whim of the leaders of the countries in which they lived.
It is not certain that their new role as pretext or excuse is any more enviable – at a time when antisemitism requires unity and resolve, not slogans and political cynicism.
Born and raised in France, the writer is a correspondent of French Jewish radio, Radio J, in the US, where he has been living for 15 years. He also holds US and Israeli citizenship. His opinions are his only.