French beauty queen April Benayoum was inundated with antisemitic messages on social media. Photo: Twitter

A court in France has sentenced eight defendants to a two-month suspended prison sentence after they were convicted for the antisemitic harassment of a beauty queen who revealed that her father is an Israeli.

Last December, April Benayoum, who won the title of Miss Provence 2020, was the runner-up in the Miss France 2021 contest. In social media posts after the competition, Benayoum noted that her mother is Croatian and her father Israeli, leading to a flurry of antisemitic replies. One tweet sent to Benayoum read, “Hitler forgot to exterminate you, Miss Provence.”

In its report of Wednesday’s decision at the Paris Criminal Court, the news outlet 20minutes observed that most of the eight defendants had expressed regret for their online outbursts. One of them, named as Ahmet I., told the court: “I am ashamed to be here, to be seen as an antisemite or a racist. I apologize to Ms. Benayoum for having made remarks like that.” Another, named as Rayanne M., confessed to “being ashamed that people have this image of me as an antisemite.”

In her address to the court, Benayoum said that while she accepted the apologies, her experience had been traumatic. “Forgiving will be more difficult, this is something that hurt me a lot and spoiled an exceptional adventure,” she commented.

Benayoum’s plight triggered a wave of supportive messages at the time. Among those expressing solidarity was the Israeli Embassy in France, which said it condemned “in the strongest possible terms the surge of antisemitic and anti-Zionist hatred,” pledging “full support” for Benayoum.

French politicians also rallied around Benayoum, with Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin declaring himself “deeply shocked by the shower of antisemitic insults against Miss Provence. Shame on their authors.”