A synagogue was vandalized and Jewish businesses looted and vandalized in the latest wave of riots in France over the weekend, with Jewish leaders calling on authorities to declare a state of emergency.
Looters struck several French cities on Saturday, including Paris, where a synagogue in the capital’s 19th arrondissement was damaged, according to images released by the group Movement to Fight Anti-Semitism (CAM).
“When chaos and violence take over the streets, synagogues are the first to suffer,” said Sacha Roytman, CEO of CAM, in a statement. “The desecration of the Paris synagogue is a clear warning signal: what begins against the Jews never ends there. »
The images show tables, chairs, prayer books and other items thrown into the temple’s interior offices following the looting.
A temple member told reporters he did not know why protesters would attack the synagogue, suggesting they were likely targeted for anti-Semitic reasons.
“It can’t be a coincidence that they chose to target a Jewish place of worship,” the worshiper told IsraJ. “They must have thought that since they are Jewish, there must be money there. »
In Marseille, France’s second-largest city, home to one of Europe’s largest Jewish populations, rioters vandalized dozens of stores, stealing a range of products from high-end Hermès items to slices of bread, according to local reports.
Ariel Goldmann of the United Jewish Social Fund (SPCJ) confirmed that some of the stores hit by the vandals were owned by Jews.
French journalist Paul Amar, who criticized some protesters for waving Palestinian flags during the riots, claimed that Jewish-owned stores had been directly targeted while Muslim-owned stores would have been spared.
There is no evidence that Jewish-owned stores were specifically targeted during the riots, Goldmann said, with the SPCJ working with local authorities to determine any motives behind the looting.
Growing unrest in France due to ongoing student protests has led the country’s Jewish leaders to demand that President Emmanuel Macron declare a state of emergency.
“I believe we need to declare a state of emergency in France, send in the army, massively increase law enforcement and stop these rioters and vandals by all means,” Bruno Benjamin, president of the Marseille-Provence branch of CRIF, the umbrella group of French Jewish institutions, told JNS.
Benjamin, who blames the protests on the country’s far left, said Saturday’s chaotic riots demonstrated that local police were completely overwhelmed by the massive number of rioters.
“We wonder if they can keep everyone safe,” he said.
In Paris, Meyer Habib, a former Jewish French lawmaker, echoed calls for Macron to guarantee the safety of law-abiding citizens and crack down on demonstrators waving Palestinian flags.
“While French President Emmanuel is giving advice to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on security, the main square of Paris, the Christian Dior stores, the Apple stores, even the grocery stores, (are being looted) by entire families, mothers with their children,” he said on Channel 14.
“I feel pain for France, my country, and I call on my French brothers: wake up before it is too late,” Habib added.
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