French police are hunting those responsible for posting thousands of antisemitic messages at the runner-up of this year’s Miss France beauty contest after she revealed her father was from Israel.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin confirmed he had “mobilised the police and the gendarmerie” to investigate the racist posts directed at April Benayoum, who mentioned her father was Israeli during the final of the contrast.
Among the 40,000 tweets sent to the 21-year-old after her appearance on Saturday night’s contest were references to Hitler and death camps.
Renaud Muselier, president of the Provence region, said the abuse was “an abomination” and added: “She is French, with Italian and Israeli origins and she is a south Provencale. She perfectly represents our region and our country.”
