Runner-Up To Miss France Told ‘Hitler Forgot To Exterminate You’ After Revealing Jewish Roots

PARIS (VINnews) — April Benayoun, Miss Provence and runner up in the Miss France competition which took place on Saturday, suffered a flood of anti-Semitic barbs, threats and insults on social media after she revealed that her father is an Israeli Jew. Benayoum responded to a question by the judges, stating that “I have an array of origins: my mother is Serbo-Croat, my father Israeli-Italian. This gave me a passion for geography and the discerning of other cultures,” Benayoum said in response to one of the judge’s questions. She added that she wanted to change misconceptions about Israel.

There were harsh reactions to Benayoum’s revelation. Surfers wrote that “Hitler forgot to exterminate you, Miss Provence,” “Uncle Hitler forgot to exterminate you,” “Miss Provence has a link with Israel. Get rid of her.” and “Miss Provence is Israeli. Whoever is voting for her, his mother is a prostitute.” Others urged Miss France not to vote for her due to her Jewishness.

Benayoun says she was unaware of the hate speech until the competition was over: “I found out about them from my relatives,” she said. “It is very sad to see such behavior in 2020. I of course condemn such things, but I am not fazed by them at all.” Police, however, are investigating the attacks and taking them seriously.

The winner of the contest, the new Miss France 2021 Amandine Petit criticized the attacks and expressed her support for Benayoum. The TV channel on which the event was broadcast, TF1, also condemned on it Twitter account the antisemitic attack Miss Benayoum faced, reaffirming its strong support to the contestant.

French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin also said he was shocked by the ferocity of the attacks. “This will not go unanswered,” he said. “It is shameful.

Meanwhile, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on Sunday tweeted his congratulations to Benayoum and offered his support in the face of the abuse she had received.
“The anti-Semitic attacks against you are sickening and must not be left unanswered,” Rivlin wrote.

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, expressed outrage in a letter to Miss France Competition Director-General, Sylvie Tellier, over the wave of Twitter attacks against April Benayoum.

“There have been critiques of feminist organizations who consider beauty competitions as debasing to women, but this year – the Miss France centenary – will be remembered as a sick exercise in Jew-hatred,” said Samuels.