The Jerusalem Post reported that a Jewish man wearing a Star of David necklace was assaulted by two men in the Lyon area ahead of the Passover holiday.
By Rachel Avraham
The Jerusalem Post reported that a Jewish man wearing a Star of David necklace was assaulted by two men in the Lyon area ahead of the Passover holiday. According to the report, one of them filmed him while the second one beat him and called him both a “dirty Jew” and “a dirty fascist.”
According to the Jerusalem Post, the prefecture assured on social media that France’s National Police were investigating the attack, and Prefect Fabienne Buccio said that she was determined to fight antisemitic incidents and would not let the perpetrators go unpunished.
Villeurbanne’s Mayor, Cédric Van Styvendael, decried the antisemitic assault, promising to do everything to fight against “all forms of violence.” He told the Jerusalem Post: “I hope that full light will be shed on this and that the perpetrators will be identified, arrested, and brought to justice without delay. Impunity is not an option.”
The Foundation for Innovative Political Thinking reported that 76% of the French population believes that “antisemitism is a problem that concerns society as a whole” and 80% of the French population believes that their justice system does not adequately punish perpetrators of antisemitic attacks harshly enough. How the French authorities responded to the murder of Sarah Halimi is an often cited example of this.
However, the Foundation for Innovative Political Thinking also reported that 29% of the young people in France think that “the creation of Israel is the fruit of a racist endeavor,” compared with 16% of French people and just 12% of those aged 65 or over. According to the report, this figure rises to 45% among French people of Muslim faith and 46% among the under-35s.
There have been a number of violent antisemitic incidents in Fance since the October 7th massacre, thus linking the rise of antisemitic incidents in France to the Israeli-Arab conflict. Among the recent violent antisemitic incidents include the abduction and rape of a Jewish woman to avenge Palestine, the gang-rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl, the assault of Orleans Chief Rabbi, and the list goes on.
There were 106 violent antisemitic incidents in 2024, compared to 85 acts of physical violence in 2023, the Jerusalem Post reported. According to these figures, this would mean that there was a 24.7% increase from 2023 to 2024. Over 10% of antisemitic incidents against individuals involved physical violence.
Bernard Mordakhai, a 36-year-old mother of three, freelance journalist, and member of the Zionist Leadership Academy, relocated from France to Israel in 2011. She told The Media Line that the future of French Jews has been unstable since the early 2000s.
“The situation has deteriorated, often shifting in response to Middle Eastern events. In 2014, while in Israel during Operation Protective Edge, I wrote that I felt safer during a war than in Paris, where anti-Jewish protests were intensifying. I left France for Israel in 2011, shortly before the attack on a Jewish school in Toulouse. From afar, I witnessed the alarming rise in antisemitism,” she told the Media Line.
According to the report, Mordakhai stated that since October 7, all boundaries have been breached, asserting that “the far left has essentially become a spokesperson for Hamas in France, further intensifying tensions.”
“This faction of the political class has made Israel boycotts and antisemitism central to their agenda. Their strategy appears to be a calculated effort to attract the Muslim electorate, particularly in suburban areas,” she said in the interview.
“Today, every Jew in France is confronted with the prospect of leaving due to antisemitism. The question is: where to go? Israel is an obvious choice, but for many, war realities and integration challenges, such as language barriers, remain serious obstacles,” Mordakhai said.
