Friday May 17, around 6:45 a.m., a man tried to set fire to the Rouen synagogue. Since then, most commentators have recalled that the October 7 attack perpetrated by Hamas and the military operations launched by Israel in the Gaza Strip in retaliation sparked a sharp increase in anti-Semitic acts in France. In 2023, the Ministry of the Interior and the Jewish Community Protection Service recorded 1,676 anti-Semitic acts compared to 436 in 2022, an increase of 1,000% after October 7. As a reminder, 60% of these acts mainly harm people (physical violence, threatening words or gestures, etc.) and 40% are threatening comments. They were recorded in 616 different cities or towns and in 95 of the 101 French departments.
On May 6, 2024, during the annual Crif dinner, Gabriel Attal also revealed that 336 anti-Semitic acts have been perpetrated since January 1, 2024. An increase of 300% compared to the first three months of 2023. The figures anti-Semitic acts are therefore at their highest since October 7, 2023, for a total of 2,012 anti-Semitic acts in the space of 15 months. However, it would be completely wrong to think that this explosion of anti-Semitism only dates back to October 7. Threats and violence shake the Jewish community, occasionally, regularly, over the long term – making places of worship and schools, the faithful, certain leaders or members of the Jewish community all targets, starting in October 2000.
There are multiple reasons. There is a transversality of anti-Semitism. First of all, this hatred is always based on the antiquity of prejudices. Then, anti-Semitism adapts to current events. In fact, in recent years, the latter developed during the financial crisis of 2008 and we could see it emerge among a fringe of yellow vests. There was also a streak of anti-Semitism during the Covid pandemic, when far-right activists attacked Jewish figures on certain platforms and social media. But, for several years, certain voices have used the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to awaken and explode anti-Semitism, while others give themselves the right to hate all Jews because they hate Israel.
In France, everything starts on October 1, 2000
And this historical reminder seems necessary. From October 2000 to the end of 2022, we count 744 acts in 2000, 936 in 2002, 974 in 2004, 832 in 2009, 614 in 2012, 851 in 2014, 808 in 2015, 687 acts in 2019. All these increases occur during the upheavals of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is nevertheless taking place 3,500 kilometers from our borders.
But, it really begins on October 1, 2000 and continues until December 2022, with 13,091 anti-Semitic acts recorded in France, following complaints or reports to the police. If we add the 2,042 acts since January 1, 2023, we are at a distressing total of 15,128 anti-Semitic acts perpetrated since October 2000. This is enormous.
From the start of the Second Intifada, anti-Semitic violence swept through several Western democracies. In France alone, the first two weeks of October 2000 were marked by a frenzied succession of anti-Semitic acts. Let us judge:
It all began on October 1, 2000, when the faithful left the Aubervilliers synagogue. A small car suddenly begins to rush towards them. People move out of the way, there are no injuries and the car moves away quickly. The police go there but leave very quickly. A few hours later, the faithful present in the synagogue were sprayed with a liquid projected from the adjoining playground. Distraught, they go out in panic. In the week of October 2, 2000, a synagogue in the 19th arrondissement of Paris received telephone threats and insults. An incendiary bottle is thrown into the synagogue grounds. On the night of October 3 to 4, 2000, an incendiary device was thrown at Villepinte. On the 4th and 5th, students were attacked as they left the Ohr Yossef school, in 19th century Paris. On Friday the 6th, young people from the Gaston-Tenoudji Jewish school in Saint-Ouen received stones and were insulted. On the 7th, a Molotov cocktail was thrown in a Parisian kosher restaurant. And, during the service, a stranger threw another inside the courtyard of the Chné Or school in Aubervilliers. On Sunday October 8, this same type of explosive reached the synagogue in Clichy-sous-Bois, while at the Trappes cemetery, Jewish graves were desecrated, night lights torn out and flower pots broken. The same day, three Molotov cocktails were thrown at the Ulis synagogue. The first level of the synagogue is completely destroyed, the rabbi goes up to the first floor and thus escapes death. Also in Trappes, the synagogue was completely devastated by a fire.
A few days later, the rabbi of the Creil synagogue was the victim of racist insults. Two incendiary devices were thrown against the building, and several worshipers, leaving the service, were the target of racist insults. The next day, two apartments were set on fire in Choisy-le-Roi (Val-de-Marne). In Paris, a person wearing a pendant was attacked and beaten by a “North African type” man near the Pyrénées metro station.
A threat to the Republic
On the night of October 12 to 13, 2000, one or more individuals broke two windows of the Bondy synagogue and threw one or more incendiary devices into the synagogue. A 30 m² room burns completely. In the capital, the door of a synagogue in the 20th arrondissement was set on fire at one in the morning. In the evening, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at the Tenoudji school in Saint-Ouen, at the same time as ten hooded people (a commando) and armed with baseball bats and iron bars threw stones and set fire to the door of a individual from Choisy-le-Roi by throwing an incendiary object. On the night of October 13 to 14, 2000, forty people chanted anti-Semitic slogans in the 19th arrondissement of Paris. Two people carry Molotov cocktails with them. At the same time, two incendiary bottles were thrown at the Chevilly-Larue synagogue. In Villeneuve-la-Garenne, near Paris, incidents are increasing: insults and threats, attacks on the faithful returning home after the service, throwing flower pots at the faithful from apartments. Three people are chased by hooded young people, who throw stones at them and utter anti-Semitic insults. On the night of the 15th to the 16th, in Meudon, two Molotov cocktails were thrown against the synagogue, which also serves as a community center. One explodes, the other doesn’t. Someone who was there reportedly shouted “Allah Akbar” before being detained by police for questioning.
As it turns out, the attempted fire perpetrated against the Rouen synagogue this Friday, May 17, is just one episode among others, in a long list. This is why it is important to put the subject into historical perspective in order to fully understand the issues and accurately measure the fears aroused in our country by this outbreak. We can never repeat it enough, anti-Semitism does not only threaten French people of Jewish faith, it is a threat to the Republic.
*Marc Knobel is a historian. He has published several works including “Hate and anti-Semitic violence” in 2013 (Berg International, 350 pages) then “Cyberhate: propaganda and anti-Semitism on the Internet” in 2021 (Hermann).
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