Since 2000, France has earned the dubious distinction of leading the West as a center of anti-Semitism, from low-grade harassment to acts of murder. French leaders, writes Tsilla Hershco, have started to take this problem seriously, even going so far as to recognize that hatred of Jews very often comes in the form of hatred of Israel. Yet their attitude continues to ignore some important facts:

France’s embarrassment and concern over growing anti-Semitic violence is sincere, as is its desire to fight it. However, this desire clashes with French apprehension about singling out the large Muslim population, [where the vast majority of attacks originate], which might prompt accusations of “Islamophobia.” These contradictory concerns were . . . reflected in Prime Minister Edouard Philippe’s November 2018 announcement in which he included the struggle against anti-Semitism in the broader framework of the fight against racism and xenophobia, thus reducing its effectiveness.

Despite [its] acknowledgement of the correlation between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism, France either joins, or does not oppose, . . . discriminatory [United Nations] resolutions promoted by anti-Semitic states and organizations.

The same paradoxical attitudes are evident in French statements regarding terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad that target the civilian Israeli population with missiles. . . . France condemned the shooting of missiles toward Israel but watered down its condemnation by expressing concern for the loss of human life on both sides, urging “mutual restraint” and calling on Israel to stop the blockade of Gaza. By putting the terrorist organizations and Israel on a par, France exposed its double standard regarding its own fight against terror and Israel’s justified acts of self-defense against terrorist organizations and entities.

At the end of the day, France’s fight against anti-Semitism is undermined by contradictions and discrepancies between its own determined efforts to curb anti-Semitism within France and its traditionally appeasing approach to the same issue in the Middle East. Joining, or failing to oppose, . . . resolutions promoted by anti-Semitic states and organizations that openly aspire to eliminate the Jewish state is detrimental to France’s fight against anti-Semitism at home, as it encourages anti-Semitic perpetrators to continue their crimes.

Two extraordinary events demonstrate something important about Israel’s most fervent adversaries. One was a speech given at something called The People’s Forum (funded generously by Goldman Sachs), which stated, “When the state of Israel is finally destroyed and erased from history, that will be the single most important blow we can give to destroying capitalism and imperialism.”

The suggestion that this tiny state is the linchpin of a global, centuries-old phenomenon like capitalism goes well beyond anything resembling rational criticism. Even if Israel were guilty of genocide, apartheid, and oppression—which of course it is not—it would not follow that its destruction would help end capitalism or imperialism.

The other was an anti-Israel protest that took place in front of New York City’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, deemed “complicit” in Israel’s evils. At organizers’ urging, participants shouted their slogans at kids in the cancer ward, who were watching from the windows. Given Hamas’s indifference toward the lives of Gazan children, such callousness toward non-Palestinian children from Hamas’s Western allies shouldn’t be surprising. The protest—like the abovementioned speech—deliberately conveyed the message that Israel is the ultimate evil and its destruction the ultimate good, cancer patients be damned.

The fact that Israel’s adversaries are almost comically perverse does not mean that they can be dismissed. If its allies fail to understand the obsessive and irrational hatred that it faces, they cannot effectively help it defend itself.