Presented as “the mobilization of French-speaking Zionist forces in the service of the power and history of Israel”, the gala could be accompanied by a gathering at the initiative of Betar, a right-wing international Jewish movement. This event, for which tickets are sold for 260 euros, was to welcome this year the Israeli Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich, known for his radical positions on colonization in the West Bank. He will finally speak via video conference. No major Jewish institution in France will participate. “The CRIF is not associated, not invited, and has no intention of taking part,” Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF), tells us.
