Macron’s government steps into antisemitism controversy at top French university

The heightened tensions on US campuses between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel student factions following the Hamas attacks on October 7 and the subsequent war in Gaza have made their way across the Atlantic — landing at one of France’s elite universities: Sciences Po.

Accusations of antisemitism surfaced last week at Sciences Po, French President Emmanuel Macron’s alma mater, during a Palestinian solidarity event on its Paris campus. A Jewish student said she was refused access to a protest staged by pro-Palestinian students after being called a “zionist” — a claim which the protesting students vigorously pushed back against, POLITICO reports.

The French government was quick to react, stressing the gravity of the incident, but it has since been accused of having hastily reacted to a murky situation and of having breached academic independence.

Less than 24 hours after the alleged antisemitic incident, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal showed up unannounced at a board of directors meeting for the National Foundation of Political Science (FNSP), which handles Sciences Po’s administrative and financial strategy, and said that the university’s leadership would need to implement measures to counter an “active and dangerous minority.”

The university’s deans and research center heads subsequently spoke out against the prime minister’s surprise visit, expressing “in the strongest terms (their) indignation” in a statement published on Monday, saying that “no political figure should take actions that undermine the principles of academic independence and freedom.”

Fears of importing American-style campus wars, complete with political proxy fights stemming from the Israel-Hamas war, appear to have fueled the government’s speedy intervention.

“I will never let a French university become the mouthpiece for a North American ideology which, under the guise of modernity, promotes intolerance, rejects debate, and curbs freedom of expression,” Attal, also a graduate of Sciences Po, said Tuesday during a question period in parliament.

Unclear circumstances

The controversy at Sciences Po was spurred by the French Jewish students union (UEJF) saying that one of its members had been barred from entering an auditorium which was occupied by pro-Palestinian protesting students at a solidarity event on March 12.

In a statement, Sciences Po’s pro-Palestinian student organization said “no student was prevented from entering the amphitheater because of their religious background” and that “those denied access were individuals known to have photographed and filmed pro-Palestinian students … putting them at great risk of online harassment.”

In an interview with Le Parisien, the student who had allegedly been refused access said she had not heard anyone targeting her as a Zionist but that this had been reported to her by someone in the room. She was eventually able to enter the auditorium, she added, but “only stayed a few minutes” as “the atmosphere was too heavy.”

The UEJF and the pro-Palestinian Comité Palestine Sciences Po did not respond to POLITICO’s request for comment.

“The UEJF’s allegations are very serious and an investigation has been opened, I have no doubt that the justice system will get to the bottom of what happened,” Pontey said. “In any case, political authorities have perhaps caved to media pressure.”

American-style culture wars? Non, merci!

Macron’s government views campus feuds in the US as a cautionary tale for what could come about in France, a nation that vehemently rejects identity politics.

Caroline Yadan, a member of Parliament for Macron’s party Renaissance, said her group would request a parliamentary hearing to receive testimony from the heads of French universities about the rise of antisemitism on campuses — the same way the heads of Harvard, UPenn, and MIT were heard by the House education committee in Washington.

Pro-Palestinian student protests on campuses in the US have been at the center of antisemitism accusations and led to hearings and a subsequent investigation last year by the House of Representatives’ education committee.