PARIS — He was one of France’s few public intellectuals to express support for the Yellow Vest movement at the beginning, but last week he said the protesters “devastate without regard for anything or anybody.”

Over the weekend, they turned their ire on him.

As Alain Finkielkraut, one of France’s leading essayists and critics from the right, walked by a Yellow Vest demonstration, protesters at its edge shouted insults widely condemned as anti-Semitic.

“Fascist!” they yelled.“Palestine!” “Go home to Israel!” “Tel Aviv, back to Tel Aviv!”

By Monday, the affair had snowballed into another episode of anguished national soul-searching over the problem of persistent anti-Semitism in France, and the evolution of the Yellow Vest movement from gas-tax protest to violent street revolt with hints of menace and hooliganism.

Some politicians and intellectuals accused others of not condemning the insults to Mr. Finkielkraut firmly enough. President Emmanuel Macron telephoned him to express his anger, but said he would not be attending a march in Paris scheduled for Tuesday to condemn anti-Semitism.