Police have announced that they are investigating a wave of anti-Semitic tweets aimed at 21-year-old April Benayoum, the runner-up in the Miss France competition who revealed during the competition that her father is Israeli.
Paris prosecutors revealed they are looking into the “racist insults” and “instigation of race hatred” targeting Benayoum. This follows the model being defended by multiple activist groups and politicians in the wake of Saturday’s event.
“I am deeply shocked by the flood of anti-Semitic insults against Miss Provence,” Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin previously said. “We will not let this stand. Shame on the authors.”
The International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism (Licra) said the backlash against Benayoum turned Twitter into an “anti-Semitic cesspool.”
The Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France called the insults “vile and unacceptable.”
The competition’s winner, Amandine Petit, also slammed the insults, telling BFMT on Sunday that they are “extremely disappointing.”
The investigation into the social media messages was opened after Marlène Schiappa, the minister in charge of citizenship filed a complaint.
Benayoum herself told Var-matin the backlash is “sad,” but said it “doesn’t affect” her.
“Hitler forgot to exterminate you, Miss Provence,” one message read, according to The Jerusalem Post.
“Uncle Hitler forgot to exterminate you,” was another.
Last year’s Miss France competition also spurred racist social media reactions. Winner Clémence Botino, who is Black, and Miss Île-de-France Évelyne de Larichaudy, who is Asian, were both targeted. Ghyslain Vedeux, head of the Representative Council of Black Associations, filed a complaint at the time and blasted the lack of response from “authorities, the government or even Marlène Schiappa.”
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