PARIS, France — France’s Holocaust memorial, two synagogues and a restaurant in central Paris were vandalized with green paint overnight, according to police sources on Saturday, prompting condemnation from government and city officials.
“I am deeply disgusted by these heinous acts targeting the Jewish community,” French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau wrote on X.
No arrests have been made so far. (Thibaud Moritz/AFP)
PARIS, France — France’s Holocaust memorial, two synagogues and a restaurant in central Paris were vandalized with green paint overnight, according to police sources on Saturday, prompting condemnation from government and city officials.
“I am deeply disgusted by these heinous acts targeting the Jewish community,” French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau wrote on X.
No arrests have been made so far. Retailleau last week called for “visible and dissuasive” security measures at Jewish-linked sites amid concerns over possible antisemitic acts.
In a separate message seen by AFP, the interior minister again ordered heightened surveillance on Friday, ahead of the upcoming Jewish holiday of Shavuot.
The French Jewish community, one of the largest in the world, has for months been on edge in the face of a growing number of attacks and desecrations of memorials since the Gaza war erupted on October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists invaded Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 251.
“Antisemitic acts account for more than 60 percent of anti-religious acts, and the Jewish community is particularly vulnerable,” Retailleau said in the message seen by AFP.
Paris authorities will file a complaint over the paint incident, said Anne Hidalgo, the city’s mayor.
“I condemn these acts of intimidation in the strongest possible terms. Antisemitism has no place in our city or in our Republic,” she said.
President Isaac Herzog tweeted that he was “appalled” by the attack, noting that one of the targeted synagogues, in the Marais neighborhood, “was built by my great-grandfather Rabbi Joel Herzog.”
Herzog said he had spoken Saturday evening to French Jewish community leaders “to express my solidarity, and support for the community.” He urged French authorities to “act swiftly and firmly to bring the perpetrators to justice, and to defend the Jewish community from hatred and attacks of any kind.”
In May 2024, red hand graffiti was painted beneath the wall at the memorial in central Paris honoring individuals who saved Jews from persecution during the 1940-44 Nazi occupation of France.
Over the past two years, France has seen a “historic” rise in antisemitic incidents.
Recent attacks outside of Paris included attempted arson on a synagogue in the town of La Grande-Motte in August, a fire at the synagogue in the city of Rouen in May 2024, and the gang rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl by three teenagers hurling antisemitic remarks in mid-June in Courbevoie.
