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2d ago

Paris Jewish Sites, Lyon School Vandalized in Anti-Semitic Attacks

French authorities have increased protections for Jewish institutions ahead of Chavouot in response to defacements that diplomats link to recent strains in Israel-France relations.

Image
Le mur des justes du Mémorial de la Shoah a été dégradé avec de la peinture verte samedi 31 mai 2025 à Paris.
À Paris, les images des synagogues et du Mémorial de la Shoah aspergés de peinture verte

Overview

  • Surveillance footage captured a lone individual in black pouring green paint on the Mémorial de la Shoah, three synagogues and the Chez Marianne restaurant in Paris’s Marais around 4:30 a.m. on May 31, prompting a probe for religiously motivated vandalism.
  • The Paris prosecutor tasked the Sûreté territoriale with the investigation and ordered heightened patrols and urgent clean-up operations at Jewish sites ahead of the Chavouot holiday.
  • On June 1, black graffiti reading “Free Palestine” and “FUCK Israël” appeared on a wall of the Fondation pour la mémoire de la Shoah in Paris’s 8th arrondissement, extending the wave of hate-filled defacements.
  • In Lyon’s 3rd arrondissement, a primary school was defaced with swastikas, Stars of David and pro-Palestinian slogans, and its outdoor toilets were set ablaze, leading to a separate hate-crime inquiry.
  • French officials from Mayor Anne Hidalgo to Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau and CRIF president Yonathan Arfi condemned the violence, while the Israeli embassy and President Isaac Herzog warned that diplomatic tensions risk emboldening anti-Semitic actors.