It is the official
French affiliate of the
World Jewish Congress (WJC), the world-wide umbrella organization of
Jewish communities, and of the
European Jewish Congress. It opposes
antisemitism and antisemitic policies. It generally supports
Zionism and the state of
Israel, although in 2004 CRIF refuted Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's characterization of antisemitism in France and his calls for French Jews to emigrate to Israel. On 20 November 2004, CRIF accused the French government of failing to protect citizens from broadcasts by
Hezbollah's
al-Manar TV, which includes films that CRIF asserts are
antisemitic and incite Muslims to attack Jews. Al-Manar was blocked by the
CSA. It has opposed the
beatification of
Pope Pius XII, stating that a majority of historians disagreed with the position that Pius worked ceaselessly to save Jews. French neo-Nazis planned an attack on the CRIF headquarters in 2023. Kalashnikovs and a laboratory for producing explosives were discovered at a suspect's home. In chat messages they wrote that they wanted to carry out an attack “worse than
Bataclan”. ==Presidents of the Council of French Jewish Institutions==