More French Jews than ever are now thinking of making aliyah due to rising levels of antisemitism, the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor murdered in her Paris apartment has told the JC.

In 2018, 85-year-old Jewish woman Mireille Knoll was stabbed 11 times and set on fire in a brutal killing that shocked Europe.

Speaking as she visited Auschwitz with a European Jewish Association (EJA) delegation this week, Keren Knoll said French Jews are scared.

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Mireille Knoll (Facebook)

Polling conducted earlier this year by the French Institute of Public Opinion revealed that 85 per cent of Jews in France believe that antisemitism is widespread and growing in the country: 74 per cent of those surveyed, and 78 per cent of those who regularly wear a yarmulke, reported having been verbally or physically assaulted at least once.

President Emmanuel Macron, whom Ms Knoll met following her grandmother’s horrifying murder, must do more to fight antisemitism, she said.

“They are trying to educate [the public about antisemitism] but I don’t think they’re doing it right.” Addressing EJA delegates, Ms Knoll said in the four years since her grandmother had been murdered she had asked herself every day, “Why?”

Mireille’s neighbour Yacine Mihoub, 32, was convicted last year of killing the elderly Holocaust survivor in a botched robbery.

As a child, Mireille Knoll survived the Val D’Hiv round-up in which more than 13,000 Jews were interned at a velodrome before being deported to their deaths.

Mihou and his accomplice Alex Carrimbacus, 25, were found to have held prejudices about the supposed wealth of Jews. The pair visited Mireille and reportedly drank port with her before launching the sickening attack.

Ms Knoll said: “We need to change the next generation and people in general’s perception.

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European delegates at Auschwitz

We need to educate them. Antisemitism is not just a Jewish problem, it’s everyone’s problem. Extreme fanatics are everyone’s problem and until we address it like that the problem won’t be solved.”

She was among European politicians and Jewish leaders from 23 countries who were at Auschwitz on Monday to mark 84 years since Kristallnacht.

President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola, visiting Auschwitz for the first time, said she was “deeply aware” of the responsibility to target Jew hate.