2023-10-10 19:11:40
Social networks, television sets, radios, interviews… Between emotion and anger, the author of the Rabbi’s Chat does not skimp on his interventions to make his voice heard on the tragedy which struck the Israeli people on Saturday.
Among the many reactions which followed the Hamas attack on Israel, Saturday October 7 in the early morning, that of Joann Sfar, marked by both emotion and anger, left its mark. On Instagram, first, with a message posted on Sunday: “Those who for years have opened their arms to Hamas and its allies are the declared enemies of Palestine and Israel. They have the blood of this morning’s pogroms on their hands. Academics and politicians who welcome terrorism with open arms are perpetrators of massacre. And that brings votes?“. Harsh words, accompanied by a watercolor – which represents the Hebrew characters – meaning “We will live“. The drawing, liked by more than 32,000 people and relayed en masse on the social network, has become a strong symbol of support for Israel.
I don’t know what the Jews do that when we do this to them, there is such insensitivity
Joanne Sfar
On the BFMTV set then, where the author of Rabbi’s Catis widely expressed: “It’s a nightmare story”, lamented the designer, very worried about his paternal family who live in Israel. Above all, the designer points out reactions in France marked by a form of insensitivity, when they compare the suffering of Israelis and that of Palestinians. “I no longer want to talk about Jewish victims and be told that I am blind to Arab suffering. This is not true. If we could all be open to each other’s suffering, we wouldn’t change anything, but at least we would stop making ourselves ridiculous.“, did he declare.
And “hardening», for the cartoonist, linked in part to an ill-informed youth who see in Israel “a far-right state that massacres. The reality is that it is a country as small as the Alpes-Maritimes – and, some regret it, a democracy. As this democracy is in a permanent situation of survival, the situation of survival leads to a vote that pleases no one.»
When Joann Sfar recalls the torture suffered by Jewish children and elderly people and the murdered young women displayed like trophies during the Hamas attack, he explains that he always receives the same type of response as soon as he broaches the subject. : “As soon as I have the misfortune to talk about this, people tell me: “What do you do about Palestinian suffering?” But I’m out of luck, I’ve been fighting for peace for the Palestinians for thirty years.”, alleges the designer. Before expressing his deep indignation towards those who, in France, “for the sake of electoralism, they pretend to believe that there is a person there who is trying to fight to liberate the Palestinian street (…). It’s not about that, it’s about terrorism.”he asserts forcefully.
On the BFMTV set, Joann Sfar, upset, is as indignant as he is questioning: “If we could avoid being shamed by the things I’ve been hearing since yesterday. I don’t know what the Jews do that, when we do this to them, there is such insensitivity. What exists today in Israel is as if there had been ten Bataclans.»
Comments which echo those of the host Arthur, having participated Monday evening in the Crif rally in Paris in support of Israel. “My friends in the profession are very silent, very discreet. I do not understand why », he was surprised, annoyed. “ We are there when it comes to all the causes and this one… It’s like the Bataclan. I am stunned by the silence of my comrades “, he continues before sharing a note of hope. “ But it is never too late».
Tuesday October 10, during an interview given to Huffington Post Joann Sfar agrees with the TF1 host: “If I can have a little anger, it is indeed against all the people who are quick to petition three times a week for everything and nothing. Well their silence has been seen a lot in recent days. I am surprised when I see all these great humanist and feminist activists who do not say a word in the face of the rapes and massacres taking place in the south of Israel.. While returning to the position he has adopted for years regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “I am one of the Jewish voices who have always spoken for Palestine, for a Palestinian state, he recalledand a rehumanization of the conflict which must go in both directions.»
The radio voice is not left out. On France CultureJoann Sfar participated in a round table alongside artists Valérie Zenatti and Firas Khoury where he once again discussed the lack of knowledge among young people about the Israeli-Palestinian question. “What I ask of the youth who are favorable to the well-being of Palestine is to take an interest in reality, in the works of history or journalists to understand, undoubtedly the injustices of Israeli society, but these are the injustices of a democracy”explained the author, overwhelmed by emotion.
Tireless, a fervent fan of humorous sketches based on current events, Joann Sfar, prolific author of more than 200 works, has never skimped on speaking. In The Synagoguean autobiographical story looking back on his adolescence in Nice in the 1980s against a backdrop of anti-Semitism, published in 2022, he writes in conclusion that “this book only makes sense through its pessimism (…). I am truly certain that in the face of waves of rage there is nothing we can do. That’s not why we’re going to keep our mouths shut.”.
And his work, crossed by an edifying and tasty broth of culture, will be highlighted by the museum of art and history of Judaism, via the exhibition Joann Sfar. The drawn life, from October 12. “What is very close to my heart is being a Jewish author, declared Joann Sfar a year ago in a broadcast of France Culture that the exhibition catalog brings back our good memories. What does that mean to me? This means that the Jewish voice is one of the voices of the polyphony of the world in the same way that Pessoa is a Portuguese author. Judaism is not a nation, it is a voice. And in literature, that means something (…). So, in a very conscious way, I always sought to be a Jewish author. And for me, there is nothing more French, more European than’a Jewish author“. A voice that never stops resonating…
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