Article · 2026
“We will all soon know what it feels like to be Jewish”: Maarten Boudry's text
Translated from the French. Original: davidbenaym.com, October 20, 2026 · French version
After the violence of October 17 in France, Belgian philosopher Maarten Boudry posts a text on X that is viewed more than 250,000 times. He addresses those who abandoned the Jews.
On Saturday, October 17, protests against the rising cost of living turn violent in several French cities. Town halls are attacked, shops looted, windows smashed. In Limoges, the town hall, opened in 1883, is largely destroyed by arson. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez reports more than 2,000 arrests and more than 600 police officers, gendarmes and firefighters injured. Since Monday, October 19, targeted curfews are in place in several cities.
The next day, Maarten Boudry, a Belgian philosopher and writer, posts a text on X. He adds photos of Palestinian flags waved amid the protests and the fires. The post passes 250,000 views in just over a day.
For him, this violence is the price of abandoning the Jews since October 7, 2023. What strikes the Jews ends up striking everyone. His last sentence sums it up: “It never ends with the Jews.”
It is an important text. It recalls Martin Niemöller’s poem: “Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.”
Maarten Boudry’s text, in my French translation
Nous saurons bientôt tous ce que signifie être Juif. En France, on le sait déjà.
Ce sera un juste retour des choses pour avoir abandonné les Juifs, ignoré leurs avertissements, nous être retournés contre eux, et même avoir défilé aux côtés de leurs oppresseurs.
Depuis trois ans, vous, « idiots utiles », arborez des drapeaux palestiniens, portez des keffiehs, hurlez le slogan « Du fleuve à la mer » et reconnaissez un État palestinien fictif en guise de récompense pour le massacre perpétré par le Hamas le 7 octobre (je pense notamment à vous, @EmmanuelMacron). Vous avez boycotté le seul État juif au monde, vilipendé le droit du peuple juif à l’autodétermination — ce qu’on appelle le « sionisme » — et propagé l’accusation mensongère d’un « génocide à Gaza ».
Imaginiez-vous vraiment qu’en donnant au crocodile suffisamment de chair juive à dévorer, il finirait par être rassasié ? Vous n’avez fait qu’encourager le monstre et aiguiser son appétit.
Vous vous inquiétiez de la « colonisation » ? Regardez autour de vous. La seule chose qui est colonisée ici, ce sont nos propres villes occidentales. Le drapeau palestinien est devenu un étendard de victoire, fièrement brandi au milieu des ruines de bâtiments historiques pillés et vandalisés — un symbole de haine envers notre civilisation et tout ce qu’elle représente.
Cela ne s’arrête jamais aux seuls Juifs.
Translation: David Benaym
Maarten Boudry@mboudry𝕏We will all soon know what it feels like to be Jewish. In France, they already do.
It will be our just deserts for having abandoned the Jews, ignored their warnings, turned against them, and even marched alongside their oppressors.
For three years, you useful idiots have been parading Palestinian flags, sporting keffiyehs, screaming “From the River to the Sea”, and recognizing a fictitious Palestinian state as a reward for Hamas’s October 7 massacre (looking at you, @EmmanuelMacron). You have boycotted the only Jewish state in the world, vilified the Jewish people’s right to self-determination (aka “Zionism”), and spread the “Gaza genocide” blood libel.
Did you really think that if you fed the crocodile enough Jewish flesh, it would eventually be satiated? All you have done is embolden the monster and whet its appetite.
So you were worried about “colonization”? Look around. The only thing being colonized here are our own Western cities. The Palestinian flag has become a victory banner, proudly waved amid the ruins of looted and vandalized historic buildings—a symbol of hatred for our civilization and everything it stands for.
It never ends with the Jews.
Sources: Maarten Boudry's post on X ↗ (October 18, 2026) · Ouest-France ↗ (October 18, 2026) · Le JDD ↗ (October 18, 2026) · L’Internaute ↗ (October 19, 2026)