By Alex Gordon in Haifa, Israel
In 1916, the novel Under Fire by the French writer Henri Barbusse was published, and that same year it received the Prix Goncourt. The book contains the following words: “War is like a forest fire.” All around, only fire, fire.” 110 years have passed. War and fire have come to the streets of French cities.
When, in the name of liberalism and democracy, the governments of European countries flood their nations with migrants who do not recognize either liberalism or democracy and place the laws of Islam above the laws of the countries that accepted them, these countries end up in the fire.
In 732, the troops of Charles Martel, the grandfather of Charlemagne, achieved victory at Poitiers over the Muslim forces that sought to conquer France and then other European countries. Charles Martel was neither a liberal nor a democrat. Therefore, he fought against foreigners and heretics, rather than accepting them into his country. Twice, in 1529 and 1683, the Muslim forces of the Ottoman Empire were defeated in their attempts to capture Vienna. They were unable to capture the city and invade Europe because the opposing Europeans were neither liberals nor democrats.
When the Arab Muslims fought against the French colonizers and defeated them, they gained independence in Algeria, Morocco, and also in Syria, where the local population revolted against the continuation of French rule under the international mandate. But for part of the population of these Arab countries, state independence turned out to be an unbearable burden, and they immigrated to France, preferring dependence on the former colonizers to their own independence.
On October 17, 2026, the town hall building in Limoges, constructed 143 years ago, was burned down. François Vincent, a member of the Aquitaine regional council, which includes Limoges, called the fire “a turning point for all of France.” He said: “I have never experienced such horror as in these days. Limoges, which has known many battles for rights, is in mourning. The fate of our republic hangs by a thread.”
In Paris, thick smoke from burning barricades and hundreds of torched cars enveloped the city center, crowds ransacked luxury stores, and arson fires raged in schools and lyceums. A curfew was imposed in a number of French cities.
During the riots of October 2026, flags of Algeria, Morocco, and Syria were visible on the streets of French cities, indicating that the formerly enslaved and oppressed Muslims from these countries, living on French taxpayers’ money, continue their struggle under the banners of their true homelands against the former colonizers for their rights in the country that has accepted and supported them. They defeated the colonizers in the national liberation struggle but surrendered to the mercy of the French taxpayer and allowed him to take care of them. Now they have taken a stand against social inequality and the decline in living standards in the country of the former colonizers.
What do the flags of foreign states, former colonies of France, mean at socio-economic protest demonstrations? What are the grievances against France from people born in this country and descended from immigrants in the second and third generations? Do second- and third-generation French people really condemn France for still being French, rather than being subservient to Algerians, Syrians, and Moroccans? It is quite possible that the protesting young Muslims do not wish to integrate into France, but rather want to impose their religion, customs, and morals on it.
On October 17, 2026, in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, unknown individuals broke into a synagogue and desecrated the Torah scrolls. The perpetrators scattered sacred books and furniture across the floor, causing a ruckus in the premises. It was at the Chabad House located on Simon Bolivar Avenue, near Buttes-Chaumont Park in the northern part of the French capital.
In a new report by the Antisemitism Research Center under the “Combatting Antisemitism” (CA) movement, 1,384 messages from 816 accounts on the X platform were documented over two days, from October 16 to 18, about anti-government protesters clashing with the police and also vandalizing a synagogue. The study is based on 18,381 messages from the X platform, obtained through 25 search queries in 7 languages. The posts promoted narratives claiming that the Jewish elite, Israel, “Mossad,” or “Zionists” organized these riots.
Among other recurring themes were mentions of the Rothschild family, the conspiracy theory of the “Grand Remplacement” (grand remplacement – a conspiracy theory according to which, with the inaction or direct complicity of elites, a gradual process of replacing the “white” population of France, as well as all of Europe, with another population – Arabs, Berbers, African blacks, and representatives of other peoples traditionally residing in Africa and the Middle East – is taking place. The methods of implementing the “grand remplacement” process are called mass immigration, high birth rates in migrant communities, low birth rates among Europeans, and claims that Jews benefit from the crisis. Leaders of Jewish organizations, including representatives of CRIF (CRIF — the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France, the main umbrella organization that unites more than 70 cultural, religious, political, and social Jewish associations in the country) in Marseille, have called for a state of emergency to be declared. In the chaos of the protests, there was only one order, antisemitism.
Why is the Palestinian flag being raised during socio-economic protests? This flag signifies the antisemitic sentiments of the demonstrators, which are not related to the socio-economic goals of the protests. These flags are distress signals for French Jews. The largest Jewish diaspora in Europe, the French one, is under threat. Another “great replacement” is taking place: the Jewish population of Europe is being replaced by Muslims.
*
Alex Gordon is professor emeritus of physics at the University of Haifa and at Oranim, the Academic College of Education, and the author of 12 books.