France’s Jewish population is estimated to be over 500,000 – the largest in Europe and the third-biggest in the world, after Israel and the United States
A woman walks past a building tagged with Stars of David in Paris, France
5 November 2023 — France has recorded more than a thousand anti-Semitic acts since the deadly October 7th attack by Hamas on Israel, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said today. “The number of anti-Semitic acts has exploded,” he told television channel France 2, adding that 486 people have been arrested for such offenses, including 102 foreigners.
Hamas gunmen attacked Israel on October 7th killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians, Israeli authorities say. Since then, Israel has relentlessly pounded the besieged Gaza Strip in its battle to destroy Hamas, leveling entire city blocks and killing more than 9,700 people, mostly women, and children, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.
Paris police chief Laurent Nunez said today that there had been 257 anti-Semitic acts in the Paris region alone and 90 arrests. There was no typical profile for those arrested, he added. They ranged from “young kids who say very serious things” to people involved in the pro-Palestinian cause who had gone too far.
Parti Socialiste leader Olivier Faure called on Sunday for all political forces to mobilize against anti-Semitism. In comments to Radio J, he suggested a demonstration in the next few days at Place de la Republique, a regular site for rallies in central Paris. But his initiative immediately came under fire from politicians on the left for his failure to rule out allowing the far-right to participate.
Stabbing in Lyon
Paris prosecutors are already investigating the daubing of dozens of Stars of David on buildings around the city and its suburbs last week, seen as threatening Jews. In the central city of Lyon, prosecutors said this weekend they suspected that anti-Semitism may have been behind an attack on a young Jewish woman, who was stabbed in her home there. Police are treating the attack as attempted murder, they said, adding that the woman’s life was not in danger and no arrest had been made.
And the mayor in the eastern city of Besancon on Sunday denounced what she said was a fresh wave of anti-Semitic graffiti there, after a first set appeared on October 31. “We are witnessing an escalation of violence in the content of messages,” said Anne Vignot in a statement, noting that such behavior could be prosecuted.