Paris synagogues defaced with green paint in antisemitic attack

France’s Holocaust memorial, two synagogues, and a Jewish-owned restaurant in central Paris were vandalised with green paint overnight, French police reported on May 31, sparking widespread condemnation from city and national officials.

“I am deeply disgusted by these heinous acts targeting the Jewish community,” French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau wrote on X (formerly Twitter), denouncing the vandalism as a direct act of intimidation and hatred, Caliber.Az reports, citing Israeli media.

The defaced sites included one synagogue located in the historic Marais neighbourhood, a district long associated with France’s Jewish heritage. Israeli President Isaac Herzog, whose great-grandfather Rabbi Joel Herzog helped build the Marais synagogue, condemned the act as "appalling" and said he had spoken with French Jewish leaders to express solidarity. He called on French authorities to “act swiftly and firmly to bring the perpetrators to justice.”

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo also issued a strong rebuke, announcing that the city would file a formal complaint. “I condemn these acts of intimidation in the strongest possible terms,” she said. “Antisemitism has no place in our city or in our Republic.”

In a statement shared with AFP, Minister Retailleau reiterated his directive for enhanced security around Jewish sites ahead of the Jewish holiday of Shavuot. He also noted that antisemitic acts now account for more than 60 percent of all anti-religious incidents in France.

France’s Jewish community—the largest in Europe—has been under heightened threat since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, which killed approximately 1,200 people and led to a rise in antisemitic sentiment across parts of Europe.

The green paint attack comes just weeks after red hand graffiti was found beneath the Paris Holocaust memorial honoring the Righteous Among the Nations—those who saved Jews during the Nazi occupation of France from 1940 to 1944.

Elsewhere in France, antisemitic violence has escalated. In recent months, a synagogue in Rouen was damaged by fire in May, another synagogue in La Grande-Motte was targeted in an attempted arson attack last August, and in a shocking incident in Courbevoie in mid-June, a 12-year-old Jewish girl was raped by three teenagers who reportedly shouted antisemitic slurs.

Interior Minister Retailleau has pledged “visible and dissuasive” security measures to protect Jewish institutions and counter the “historic” surge in antisemitic violence seen over the past two years.

Authorities are now reviewing CCTV footage and pursuing leads as part of the investigation into the latest wave of vandalism in Paris.

For the record, France has seen a disturbing trend of antisemitic incidents since the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war, with the Interior Ministry and Jewish community watchdogs reporting an alarming increase in hate crimes. Community leaders are calling for greater protection and legal action to prevent further escalation.

By Khagan Isayev