France is rocked by antisemitic incidents From discrimination to death threats

French authorities have opened a criminal investigation into a refreshment stand proprietor near Lyon after she was filmed telling a Jewish customer that there were “too many Jews,” while a separate incident involving an Australian Jewish couple and a death threat has also drawn condemnation.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said law enforcement authorities had launched an inquiry into the first incident after footage from the establishment began circulating online on August 14, Caliber.Az reports, citing Israel National News.

The video shows a middle-aged blonde woman leaning against a checkout counter and rolling a cigarette while speaking with a customer. During the exchange, she told him, “There are too many of you.” When he asked whom she meant, she replied, “The Jewish community,” adding that this “upsets people.”

The footage was widely shared on social media, prompting police to open an investigation.

Aurore Bergé, the minister responsible for gender equality and combating discrimination, said on August 15 that the video showed “tourists who were denied access to a refreshment stand at a resort in Isère.”

“Such antisemitic conduct and remarks cannot be tolerated,” Bergé said.

The incident occurred on the same day as a separate confrontation involving an Australian Jewish couple visiting France. The couple were allegedly subjected to antisemitic abuse and death threats by an Irish man inside a local supermarket.

The confrontation was filmed by the woman on her mobile phone and quickly spread across social media, reportedly receiving around one million views.

According to the account accompanying the footage, the Irish man initially approached the couple after noticing that the husband was wearing a French football jersey and hearing them speak English. The group briefly discussed international football before the conversation turned to politics, including Ireland’s foreign policy and its support for groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas.

The man then allegedly became verbally aggressive and directed antisemitic abuse at the couple.

“It’s a pity Hitler didn’t finish the job,” he said.

After the woman began recording the confrontation, the man allegedly escalated his threats, telling the couple: “I’ll put a bullet in your heads.”

Yonathan Arfi, president of CRIF, the umbrella organisation representing France’s Jewish communities, condemned both incidents.

“In the meantime, let us reject both discrimination against Jews and the rhetoric that equates Nazism and Zionism, which is nothing but a challenge to the right to existence of the State of Israel,” Arfi wrote.

By Sabina Mammadli