Tags, insults, threats… Since Saturday’s attack on Israel by Hamas, anti-Semitic acts have increased in France. There were “around a hundred”, indicated this Thursday the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, on France Inter. These are, he specifies, essentially inscriptions, such as “swastikas, “death to the Jews”, calls for an intifada”. But also “even more serious acts, people arrested at the entrance to a school or a synagogue with a bladed weapon, a drone that we saw flying inside a Jewish place of worship”. In total, according to Place Beauvau, 41 people were arrested, including 12 in Paris and the inner suburbs, 25 in the police zone and 4 in the gendarmerie zone.
In the Paris region, 20 minutes has identified, from several police sources, around ten significant facts since Saturday. Several events, in particular, punctuated the day of Wednesday. In the 16th arrondissement of Paris, two high school students attending Janson de Sailly filed a complaint for “anti-Semitic remarks” and “apology of terrorism”. The complainants, of Jewish faith, accused three other students of insulting them and making humiliating remarks. Among them, a young girl allegedly sent them a message on WhatsApp indicating that she supported Hamas and would attack Jews. Alerted, the principal of the establishment went to the class and reminded the laws of the Republic. An investigation was opened, entrusted to the local police station.
“We’re going to slit your throat”
Still in the 16th arrondissement of the capital, police arrested a man in the afternoon who was shouting in the street: “I’m going to burn France, I’m going to exterminate all the Jews.” The suspect, arrested at the corner of avenue d’Iéna and rue Georges Bizet, was placed in police custody.
Furthermore, in Hauts-de-Seine, in Levallois-Perret, a 21-year-old girl filed a complaint for harassment and death threats. Of Jewish faith, she has received several malicious phone calls and messages since Saturday. “Dirty whore”, “you’re dead”, “We’re going to cut your throat”, “Jew in a club”. The local police station was informed of the investigation opened by the Nanterre public prosecutor’s office to identify the author.
Furthermore, a threatening letter was left at the Garenne-Colombe town hall. Its author announced, in this letter, according to our information, his intention to attack a Jewish school.
In Cergy, in Val-d’Oise, the police noticed on Wednesday numerous tags hostile to Israel, on walls and signposts, Boulevard du Port and Boulevard François Mitterrand. In Sarcelle, the occupants of a Renault Mégane were seen passing the town’s synagogue several times and taking photos of the police force put in place. The owner of the vehicle has been identified. He is a 43-year-old man who was not at his home when officials went there.
A young girl threatened with death
Further east, in Val-de-Marne, municipal agents in Sucy-en-Brie discovered, in the morning, Stars of David tagged on several businesses, with black spray paint. The Boissy-Saint-Léger police station is responsible for the investigations.
In Charenton-le-Pont, two anti-Zionist stickers were discovered in the Liberté metro station. The first, stuck on a wall of the exit escalator, reads: “Boycott Puma, official supplier of the Israel team”. On the second, discovered in the station, was written: “Long live the resistance of the Palestinian people”. The police officers who made the findings asked the RATP to extract the images from the surveillance cameras in an attempt to find the perpetrator.
And in Créteil, a young girl, who was waiting for the bus near the Ozar Hatorah Jewish school, was surrounded by two men who called her a “dirty Jew” and threatened to kill her. She was not physically attacked. A complaint has been filed.
“Tonight is not your night”
The police were alerted to other similar events that occurred on Saturday, the day of the attack. In Meudon, in Hauts-de-Seine, a man who was going to the synagogue was approached by four people traveling in a car. They told him: “Tonight is not your night.” Then they left the place. Alerted, the police set up a security system around the place of worship.
In the neighboring Val-de-Marne department of Créteil, two men in an Audi were seen driving past the synagogue several times, taking photos of the building. When the police arrived, the suspects had fled.
Sunday, a little before 2 p.m., in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, a man claiming to be of Syrian nationality and speaking English presented himself in front of a school-synagogue. He asked the guard to let him in and told him he was there to plant a bomb. Then he repeatedly said, “Allah Akbar”. The suspect, born in 2002, was arrested by an off-duty police officer and taken to the district police station.
The same day, in the 16th arrondissement, a man born in 2005 in Tunisia was arrested and taken into custody for advocating terrorism and racial insult. Around 1:55 p.m., the suspect passed in front of a synagogue, rue Mesnil, and shouted: “dirty Jews, 150 dead is not a lot, more would have been needed.” He was arrested near the Place du Trocadéro, by DOPC personnel who had been warned by the synagogue security guards. The latter assure that this same man had already passed in front of them the day before. Along with two other people, he shouted anti-Semitic insults. The suspect was taken into custody. The 17th arrondissement police station was seized.