A wave of antisemitic incidents, which have seen bomb threats targeting some twenty Jewish schools and Stars of David spray painted on homes and buildings allegedly inhabited by Jews have rocked France in the past few days. Tensions are high, with police opening fire last night on a fully veiled woman making threats and advocating terrorism.
Residents in the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 18th arrondissements of Paris woke up on the morning of Tuesday, October 31st, to find dozens of blue Stars of David, a Jewish symbol, spray painted on several homes and buildings, some of which are reportedly lived in by Jewish people, Le Parisien reported.
Reports indicate that similar graffiti, featuring stars and sometimes accompanied by inscriptions like “from the river to the sea, Palestine will win,” was discovered in suburban areas of Paris, including Vanves, Fontenay-aux-Roses, Aubervilliers, and Saint-Ouen.
The Paris prosecutor’s office, which noted that some sixty spray painted stars were found in the 14th arrondissement alone, said at this stage, it’s unclear as to whether the stars “are intended to insult the Jewish people or to claim to belong to them, particularly since it is a blue star and not a yellow one.”
In any case, the spray painted stars have been widely regarded as being threatening toward Jews amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
The office has opened an inquiry concerning damage to the property of others, aggravated by the circumstances of origin, race, ethnicity, or religion, BFMTV reported. Meanwhile, the Paris town hall plans on filing a complaint and has strongly condemned these acts.
Emmanuel Grégoire, deputy to Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, said the stars would be removed immediately and added: “Antisemitism continues to kill. We will never give up the fight.”
Responding to the news on social media, Carine Petit, who serves as the district mayor of the 14th arrondissement, wrote: “Anti-Semitism plastered in our streets as in the darkest hours. The perpetrators must be found and convicted,”
Furthermore, the mayor of the 14th arrondissement in a statement said the events “recall the events of the 1930s… which led to the extermination of millions of Jews.”
Anthony Samama, the deputy mayor of the 15th arrondissement, spoke in a similar tone in response to the events, saying: “We condemn with the greatest firmness these acts which remind us of the darkest hours of our history.”
Separately, a fully veiled woman, who police say was making threatening remarks and advocating terrorism, was shot twice in the stomach near the Bibliothèque François Mitterrand station in Paris, after allegedly threatening to blow herself up. The 38-year-old woman was previously known to intelligence services. The Paris prosecutor’s office, in a statement released Tuesday, October 31st, noted that she was also known “for schizophrenia-type disorders, for which she is undergoing treatment.”
The incident took place just days after some twenty Jewish schools located in the Île-de-France, the region in northern France that includes Paris, received a bomb threat email, which in turn resulted in the evacuation of over 1,000 students.
The same day, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced that since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th, 857 antisemitic incidents have been recorded by French authorities, double the number registered in all of 2022. The incidents have resulted in more than 430 arrests.
