The attempted attack on a synagogue in southern France on Saturday, August 24, marks a turning point in the long series of anti-Semitic acts recorded in France since the attack − accompanied by massacres and numerous acts of violence − by Hamas against Israel on October 7, 2023, followed by the Israeli army's destruction of the Gaza Strip in retaliation. These anti-Semitic acts have increased not only in number but also in severity. For the first time, it appears that the intention of El Hussein K., the 33-year-old Algerian suspected of this attack, was to kill Jews.
The number of anti-Semitic acts has increased significantly since October 7: In 2023, 1,676 such acts were recorded, four times as many as in 2022, and 887 in the first half of this year, compared with 304 in the same period in 2023. The increase is not just in numbers, it is also marked by an increase in the violence of these acts. They recently went from tagging the walls of synagogues and businesses run by members of the Jewish community, to physical assaults, such as the one suffered by 62-year-old Marco S. outside a synagogue in Paris' 20th arrondissement. On May 17, an arson attack was committed on a synagogue in Normandy and on Saturday, an attack was planned against the Grand-Motte synagogue, in southern France.
According to outgoing Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, the alleged perpetrator of Saturday's attack was seeking to set fire to the seaside town's synagogue, where five worshippers, including the rabbi, were present. The attacker, wearing a Palestinian flag around his waist and a keffiyeh on his head, also planned to attack those who tried to escape the flames with an axe, which was found nearby, and a pistol. As seen on a CCTV image, he was wearing the pistol on his belt and used it against the police officers who came to arrest him.
The French National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor's Office has taken up this case, the first involving anti-Semitic violence since October 7, 2023. This incident represents a significant increase in violence since the arson attack against the Rouen synagogue in Normandy, which was empty at the time. The perpetrator was an undocumented Algerian national who was shot dead by law enforcement officers when he advanced toward them with a knife and an iron bar.
Between these two events, a tragedy was narrowly averted. During the police custody hearings of Dereck R., reported by Le Parisien, it was revealed that this radicalized former common law prisoner had nearly killed a cab driver with a butcher's leaf near Le Mans, western France, in July. He had intended to massacre Jews "for what they have done to our brothers and sisters..."
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