USA ambassador to France hears what Jewish-French teens have to cope with

Charles Kushner, father of Jared Kushner and ambassador to France, held a meeting with Jewish-French teenagers who're on the front lines in the crisis involving antisemitism in the country, perpetrated as it mainly is by Muslims:

It was supposed to be just another official visit on the busy schedule of US Ambassador to France Charles Kushner, father of Jared Kushner.

But when Yonès, an 18-year-old from Rennes in northwestern France, refused to accept an official letter from the embassy explaining his absence from school, the masks began to fall. Yonès did not want his teachers - and certainly not his classmates - to know he was a member of a Jewish youth movement. In fact, apart from his best friend, no one at school knows he is Jewish.

Yonès’s confession was only the opening moment of an emotional and unusual meeting held at the ambassador’s official residence on the prestigious Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. Ambassador Kushner invited young leaders from CTeen, the worldwide Chabad youth network, to hear firsthand what life is like for a Jewish teenager in France in 2026.

For two hours, the ambassador and his wife Seryl spoke not about high diplomacy, but about real life. Kushner asked direct questions: “What does it feel like to be Jewish today in a secular French school?" The answers he received were simple and painful. Since October 7, 2023, schools have become a social battlefield for many of them.

“These are teenagers living on the front line of antisemitism," said Rabbi Mendy Mottel, director of CTeen France, who accompanied the group. “The ambassador wanted to know what is really happening in the hallways, what they feel when they walk into a classroom knowing they may be the only Jews in the room."

Here's also the same story on the Jerusalem Post site:

A private meeting between Jewish teenagers from across France and US Ambassador Charles Kushner exposed the daily reality facing young Jews in French public schools, where some said they hide their identity, remove visible Jewish symbols, and wait all week for the chance to reconnect with Jewish peers.

Nine members of CTeen France, Chabad’s global Jewish teen network, visited Kushner and his wife, Seryl, on May 4 at the official US ambassador’s residence on rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris, Chabad.org reported. The teenagers, ages 14 to 18, came from CTeen chapters around the country and spoke with the ambassador for two hours about life as Jewish students in France.

One of the teenagers, Younes, 18, from Rennes in northwestern France, reportedly declined an official embassy letter explaining his absence from school because he did not want teachers or classmates to know he was active in a Jewish youth movement. According to CTeen representatives, only his best friend at school knows he is Jewish.

When Kushner asked the teenagers what it felt like to be Jewish in a secular French school, they described years of antisemitism in classrooms and a sharp rise in hostility since the October 7 massacre, Chabad.org reported.

Read more, but seriously, it's annoying that they describe the classroom as "secular" when there could be Muslims "studying" there. It's terrible this is the case. But that's exactly why on the one hand, they have to support movements for exiling the Religion of Peace from the country, and on the other hand, they should also back women and children's safety movements, since many women and children have fallen victim to violence, sexual and physical, committed by Islamofascists. And I hope Mr. Kushner will give his backing to that position too.