Fighting antisemitism is essential. At the same time, protecting open debate about governments and policies is also essential. We have to be careful not to blur the line between criticizing a state’s actions and attacking an entire people. Democracies should be strong enough to handle both justice and free speech.

This raises some serious questions about where the line is drawn between protecting groups from hate speech and protecting the right to political criticism. Legally defining specific words as 'prosecutable' in a political context is a massive shift for French free speech laws.