France's interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, reported that France has recorded more than a thousand antisemitic acts since the October 7 Hamas attack.
Darmanin stated on France 2 television that 486 people were arrested for committing antisemitic acts, including 102 foreigners.
Antisemitic Acts in France
On Sunday, Paris police chief Laurent Nunez confirmed that there had been 257 antisemitic incidents in the Paris region, and 90 people were arrested.
"The number of antisemitic acts has exploded," Darmanin said. He added that the people arrested were ordinary residents, mostly young kids who said hateful things to people involved in the pro-Palestinian cause who had gone too far.
"We are witnessing an escalation of violence in the content of messages," Anne Vignot, mayor of the eastern city of Besancon, said.
The Socialist party leader, Olivier Faure, called for an urgent political force to mobilize against antisemitism. Faure proposed a demonstration at Place de la Republique, a regular site for rallies in central Paris, in the next few days.
However, his initiative was immediately criticized by politicians for his failure to rule out allowing the far-right National Rally of Marine Le Pen to take part.
Paris prosecutors were also investigating the Stars of David painted on buildings around the city and its suburbs last week. The Union of Jewish Students of France said the stars were designed to remind that Jews were forced to wear stars by the Nazi regime.
The prosecutors reported another incident in the central city of Lyon, in which they suspected that antisemitism may have been behind an attack on a young Jewish woman who was stabbed in her home. The police concluded the attack as attempted murder as the woman's life was not in danger, and no arrest had been made.
Hamas Attack in Israel
The Israeli authorities have reported that 1,400 people, mostly civilians, were killed, and Hamas militants took 240 hostages in Israel on October 7. Israel has retaliated and bombed the Gaza Strip in its battle with Hamas, destroying many buildings and areas.
According to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry, the attack has killed more than 9,700 people, primarily women and children. France's Jewish population, approximately over 500,000, is the largest in Europe and the third-biggest in the world, after Israel and the US.
The European Commission condemned antisemitism since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas conflict. "The spike of antisemitic incidents across Europe has reached extraordinary levels in the last few days, reminiscent of some of the darkest times in history," the commission said.
The commission also cited antisemitic incidents in Austria, France, Germany and Spain. The commission said that the demonstrators were chanting hate slogans against Jews, which they have also observed for the past weeks in Europe.
