French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau expressed his “immense disgust at these heinous acts targeting the Jewish community.” He requested that security measures for the Jewish community be strengthened during the Shavuot holiday.
”France has allowed antisemitism to take root and grow. It is not hard to see why. You cannot pay lip service to Jews, while simultaneously validating Hamas taking points about genocide and baby killing. This is fuelling the hate. It isn’t a co-incidence that the choice of paint was the same green as the Hamas flag,” declared Rabbi Menachem Margolin, Chairman of the European Jewish Association.
Several places associated with the Jewish community were sprayed with green paint during the night of Friday to Saturday, in the Marais district of central Paris, French media reported.
Jewish restaurant ‘Chez Marianne’’, the Shoah Memorial, the Tournelles Synagogue and the Agoudas Hakhelios Synagogue were targeted, said Le Figaro newspaper. “The facts were noted by police officers on patrol at around 5:15 a.m., and a review of the memorial shows an individual dressed all in black tagging at 4:35 a.m.,” a police source told the newspaper.
French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau expressed his “immense disgust at these heinous acts targeting the Jewish community.” In a telegram sent to prefects on Friday, he requested that security measures for the Jewish community be strengthened during the Shavuot holiday, from the evening of Sunday to the evening of Tuesday.
He explained that these measures were necessary due to “persistent international tensions, particularly in the Middle East,” which “require extreme vigilance, especially with regard to demonstrations and religious sites.” The minister also noted that “anti-Semitic acts account for more than 60% of anti-religious acts, and the Jewish community is particularly vulnerable.”
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said she “condemns these acts of intimidation in the strongest possible terms.” “Anti-Semitism has no place in our city or in our Republic.. We will file a complaint,” she said.
No information about the motives has been released so far. “Everyone is linking this to Palestine, but we are neutral,” said the manager of the restaurant “Chez Marianne,” which has been an institution in Paris’s 4th arrondissement since 1976 and welcomes both Jewish and Muslim personalities.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog spoke with the leaders of Crif, the umbrella group of Jewish institutions in France, and of the Jewish community of France to express his solidarity and support for them. ”I am appalled by the attack on Jewish institutions in Paris on Shabbat – including the synagogue in the Marais district, built by my great-grandfather, Rabbi Joël Herzog,” he wrote on X.
He called on the French authorities ”to act quickly and firmly to bring the perpetrators to justice, and to defend the Jewish community against hatred and attacks of all kinds.”
In a statement, European Jewish association (EJA) Chairman Rabbi Menachem Margolin said this vandalism shows that ”it’s business as usual for antisemitism in Europe, this time in Paris.”
”The mayor of Paris said that “anti-Semitism has no place in our city and in our Republic. Respectfully, Madame hidalgo, it is very much here, very much present, and very much a part of daily life in the Republic. The real question is what are you prepared to do about it?,” he asked.
He continued: ”France has allowed antisemitism to take root and grow. It is not hard to see why. You cannot pay lip service to Jews, while simultaneously validating Hamas taking points about genocide and baby killing. This is fuelling the hate. It isn’t a co-incidence that the choice of paint was the same green as the Hamas flag.”
Antizionism is antisemitism. A memorial to murdered Jews by the Nazis being daubed in terrorist colours tells you everything you need to know. So, please, no more ‘antisemitism has no place’, this is now a bad cliche, bordering on insulting. Europe’s Jews are waiting for change not platitudes,” added Rabbi Margolin.
I am appalled by the attack on Jewish institutions in Paris on Shabbat – including the synagogue in the Marais district, built by my great-grandfather, Rabbi Joël Herzog.
I spoke this evening with the leaders of the
@Le_CRIF
and the Jewish community in France, to express my solidarity and support for them.
I call on the French authorities to act quickly and firmly to bring the perpetrators to justice, and to defend the Jewish community against hatred and attacks of all kinds.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)