Israeli doctor wears kippah on French TV, astonished by the debate it sparks in studio

An Israeli doctor who appeared as a panel guest on a television show in France was left bewildered when the host asked him why he was wearing a kippah, or Jewish skullcap, on-air. 

In 2004, France passed a law banning religious items in public schools and government offices, whether kippahs, Muslim attire or Catholic crosses. In 2010, the French parliament passed a related law prohibiting people from wearing clothing in public that covers the entire face.

Wearing religious symbols in public, at all, has been the topic of a fierce public debate, but Dr. Cyrille Cohen, the head of immunology at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel, did not violate any laws during his interview for the French channel.

“I am going to ask a question that many people wish to raise, and it is not related to medicine at all,” said the host of the program, “Why is the professor wearing a religious symbol in studio?”  

“Why? Because I wear it every day,” replied Cohen, who was a member of the board advising the Health Ministry on the COVID-19 pandemic. “I wear it every day. I didn’t wear it especially for your program.”

A female guest on the panel, French Jewish journalist Elisabeth Levy, jumped in, saying she had mentioned the kippah “issue” to him over coffee earlier. 

A clear pushback against the Israeli doctor, Levy noted that the French consider religion to be a personal discreet affair. 

“You keep your religion to yourself. Do you understand?” she asked. 

“My name is C-O-H-E-N,” the doctor replied, raising his voice, “Why would you want me to keep my religion to myself? I come from Israel.”

Levy responded by saying that some people with the name “Cohen” do not wear a kippah.

The doctor then asked her: “What if a priest would come in here or the Pope? Would you ask him to remove his cross or his head covering?”

The host spun this into a joke that if the Pope arrived on set, it would be something significant.

Dr. Cohen ended the discussion by saying that his wearing a kippah carries “no offense to anyone.”

The video clip from the program became viral in Israel after being shared online by Sivan Rahav-Meir, a reporter for Israel’s Channel 12 news and an observant Jew.

Cohen reportedly told Rahav-Meir that “many French Jews felt Jewish pride” after watching the discussion. 

“This is what happens when secularism becomes a religion. I left France 30 years ago and made Aliyah [immigrated to Israel], and I am so happy for it,” he said. “Over here [Israel], people aren’t familiar with this debate, thank God.”