Jewish leader indicted for calling Dieudonne an anti-Semite
Holocaust survivor Roger Cukierman, president of France's largest Jewish group, indicted for denouncing comedian who created 'quenelle' gesture and mocked Holocaust.
Over the course of the last few years, Dieudonne has been convicted in his country 10 times for inciting anti-Semitism.
The comedian essentially created and glorified the "quenelle," a reverse Nazi salute which became popularized in 2013 as scores of fans mimicked the gesture, including at historical Israeli sites like Yad Vashem.
Throughout his shows, he's mocked the Holocaust, Jewish people, and most recently, Ilan Halimi, a young Parisian Jewish phone salesman who was tortured and murdered in 2006 by a group of kidnappers.
Though Dieudonne refers to himself as anti-establishment, his latest comedy show is reportedly called "The Anti-Semite."
On the heels of his popularity, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls called the "quenelle" gesture "a gesture of hatred, an anti-Semitic gesture," adding that "all those who perform it should know – they can’t deny the knowledge – that they are performing an anti-Semitic gesture."
Now, JTA reports, Roger Cukierman, a Holocaust survivor and president of France's largest Jewish group, the CRIF umbrella of French Jewish communities, who has followed in line with Valls' sentiments and called Dieudonne a "professional anti-Semite," has been indicted for his statement.
"So I am being indicted for having stated on Europe 1 that Dieudonne is a professional anti-Semite," Cukierman said in a video posted on the CRIF website. "Isn’t that funny? For once, Dieudonne is actually comical."
The National Bureau for Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism (BNVCA) has since spoken out about the indictment, voicing its support for Cukierman.
"No one in France knows anti-Semitism better than Roger Cukierman, who survived the Holocaust at the age of nine because nuns hid him while his family was deported to Auschwitz and gassed there," the watchdog said in a statement.
The incident took place a week after Dieudonne himself was charged with money laundering and abusing public funds.
Reprinted with permission from Shalom Life .
