"In France, I get plenty of insults and threats when I defend Israel," said popular French comedian, director and actor Dany Boon, in an interview with i24news while in Israel on a visit to his wife's family.
He is planning to visit Israel more often and is concerned about the rise of anti-Semitism in France and elsewhere in Europe.
Boon, whose real name is Daniel Hamidou, born of an Algerian Kabyle father and a French Catholic mother, was raised as a Catholic. He converted to Judaism about twelve years ago and is married to a French Jew. He said that anti-Semitic stereotypes in France are deeply entrenched. "People make shortcuts, amalgams and often tell me 'now that you're Jewish you have become very rich,'" He replies "I was already rich when I was a Catholic, and I know poor Jews."
Dany Boon refuses to be drawn on his political views, but indicated that he is shaken by the level of violence in the region. His way to engage is to participate in humanitarian actions, such as "Hadassah", a Jewish charity, for which he has given many raise-funding performances.
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