France: Dieudonné the “cool antisemite” getting more popular than ever

"Triumph" according to Dieudonné: his show at Nantes (27/12/2014) drew 5,000 fans

Ilan Halimi's burial in Jerusalem

French “comedian” Dieudonné M’bala M’bala made his upsetting presence felt in the consciousness of most British Jews almost exactly one year ago. In a Premier League match on December 28 2013, star striker Nicolas Anelka celebrated a goal with the “quenelle” — a kind of Nazi salute — and explained his actions by saying that the gesture had been a tribute to his friend, Dieudonné.

As it turned out, Dieudonné, a convicted antisemite, had not only been responsible for popularising racist salutes among football stars, but was becoming figurehead for Jew-haters in a country where antisemitism has soared.

In a year that began with news that Jews were leaving France in record numbers and ended with a Jewish teenager in Paris robbed and raped “because Jews are rich”, the “cool antisemite” got more popular than ever: his Facebook page, on which he posts videos and links referencing his brand of bigotry, gained an extra 400,000 “likes” during 2014.

And later in the year, French theatres agreed to host his new show, which includes jokes about Ilan Halimi, a Parisian tortured and murdered because he was Jewish. Two weeks ago, Dieudonné requested a meeting with heads of the French Jewish community in an apparent attempt to create an “accord which would allow both parties to respect the other”. The jokes don’t get any better.

Orlando Radice@ Jewish Chronicle