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This year's election of “Miss France” has been overshadowed by anti-Semitic attacks on the Internet.

April Benayoum, who took second place in the competition on Saturday in Puy-du-Fou in western France, has a father of Israeli origin.

The young woman was therefore exposed to anti-Semitic comments in the online networks.

Especially on Twitter, Benayoum was covered with anti-Semitic and anti-Israel abuse.

Many users asked them to “run away” from France.

Members of the French government reacted indignantly.

Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin was “deeply shocked”.

The police are "mobilized" to take action against the senders of such messages.

Justice Minister Éric Dupond-Moretti announced that the authorities would take action against those who misused the beauty pageant to “discharge their anti-Semitic hatred”.

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"Miss France is not an anti-Semitism competition"

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Marène Schiappa, Assistant Minister for Citizenship, expressed her support with Benayoum and announced that she would report the incidents to the prosecutor.

"Miss France is not an anti-Semitism competition," she wrote on Twitter.

The organization Licra, which campaigns against racism and anti-Semitism, also announced that it would bring criminal charges against the perpetrators of anti-Semitic insults.

Benayoum himself told the regional newspaper “La Provence” that she found it “sad” that such attacks were still going on in 2020.

There has to be a mobilization “so that this stops”.

The 23-year-old student Amandine Petit was chosen as “Miss France”.

She also expressed her solidarity with Benayoum.

The anti-Semitic messages are "extremely disappointing" and "out of place," said Petit in a television interview.