The suspect in Saturday’s attack on a synagogue in southern France was arrested on Saturday night in the city of Nimes, some 50 kilometres from the site, the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT) said. The suspect fired at approaching police officers, who fired back, and the suspect “was wounded in the face,” according to a statement from the Prosecutor’s Office early Sunday morning. The suspect is a 33-year-old man of Algerian nationality, local media reported. Two other people in his entourage were also arrested, while investigations into the preparation of the attack and the perpetrator’s subsequent escape continue, the same source added in its statement.
The attack on the Beth Yacoov synagogue in La Grand Motte, a small Mediterranean resort town near Montpellier, took place on Saturday morning. Two vehicles parked near the temple were set on fire. The public prosecutor’s office said on Sunday that a gas cylinder, which had initially been reported to be inside one of the cars, was located near one of them.
The perpetrator also set fire to the two doors of the temple, where five people were present at the time. A municipal police officer was injured in the explosion, although not seriously. French authorities immediately launched a large police operation in search of the alleged perpetrator, aided by images from the synagogue’s security cameras, which showed a man with a gun on his waist and a Palestinian flag.
The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office announced shortly afterwards that it had taken over the investigation on three charges: attempted murder, destruction with dangerous means and criminal association, all with terrorist motives. The acting Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, later said that the fire was “manifestly criminal” and the government ordered increased police surveillance around synagogues and Jewish cultural centres. The entire French political class was quick to condemn the attack and anti-Semitism. “The fight against anti-Semitism is a constant fight, that of a united nation,” said President Emmanuel Macron.
More attacks since October 7
In France, Jewish houses of worship have been tightening their security measures since the start of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip on 7 October. For several months, the government has been repeating that the conflict in Gaza has exacerbated anti-Semitic acts in the country. Last May, the police shot dead a man who set fire to a synagogue in Rouen, although the act had not been classified as terrorist. The attack was condemned by the authorities and the public, who gathered in several cities in the country to show their support for the Jewish community.
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The government has recorded 887 anti-Semitic acts in the first half of 2024, almost three times more than in the same period in 2023. Authorities fear that tensions in the Middle East could eventually spread to France, the country with the largest Jewish and Muslim community in Europe.
The political class has unanimously condemned the attack, which took place just two days before the start of the Paris Paralympic Games and at a time when negotiations are underway to appoint a prime minister. France has had a caretaker government since the second round of early parliamentary elections on July 7.
In a message on the social network X, Macron said on Saturday that “the fight against anti-Semitism” is a daily battle. The mayor of La Grande-Motte, Stephan Rossignol, said on his X account that it was an “attack targeting the Jewish community.” Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (Crif, by its French acronym), expressed the same opinion: “It is an attempt to murder Jews.”
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of the radical left-wing party La France Insoumise, was one of the first to react. In a message on X, he condemned the “criminal arson” against the synagogue and pointed out that “secularism and freedom of conscience are children of freedom of worship.” His words have been particularly scrutinized after the harsh criticism he received in June for saying that anti-Semitism in France was “residual.” Some leaders of the party have also been accused of fomenting anti-Semitism to attract votes from French people of Arab origin. The party denies this.
“These unacceptable and unspeakable attacks are a consequence of the rise of anti-Semitism that is spreading across our country,” wrote Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Rally (RN) party in X.
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