French Authorities Arrest Man in Attempted Arson on Synagogue

Protesters kick a tear gas canister during a pro-Palestinian rally in Paris on Oct.12, 2023. Thibault Camus/AP Photo

A man suspected of setting fire to a synagogue in a town in southern France was arrested on Aug. 24 after an exchange of gunfire with police.

On that morning, “an attempted arson attack, clearly criminal, hit the synagogue of La Grande-Motte,” French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said in an Aug. 24 post on social media platform X. On Aug. 25, the minister revealed that the alleged perpetrator had been arrested.

“Thanks to the police, and mainly the RAID, who intervened with great professionalism despite his gunshots,” he wrote.

RAID is a French police unit.

French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said on X that nearly 200 officers were mobilized, and the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the incident.

He thanked law enforcement and emergency services “who intervened with exceptional speed.”

“We probably avoided an absolute tragedy,” Attal said.

“To attack a French person because he is Jewish is to attack all French people. Tolerating or legitimizing verbal attacks is to open the way to physical attacks.”

Attal said the attacker had set fire to several entry doors to the synagogue as well as several nearby cars. Local media reported earlier that the suspect had set fire to two cars, one of which contained at least one gas canister, in the synagogue’s parking area at about 8:30 a.m. local time.

The suspect was arrested on the evening of Aug. 24 in the city of Nimes.

“Before the police could intervene, [the suspect] opened fire on the [police], who returned fire. The man was wounded in the face,” the anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office said, adding that two other people were taken into custody.

A police officer was slightly injured when a gas canister exploded as police secured the site of the attack on the morning of Aug. 24, Attal said.

French broadcaster BFM TV identified the suspect as a 33-year-old Algerian. The government said police protection of synagogues, Jewish schools, and shops would be stepped up across France.

Attack on Jews, Anti-Semitism

Yonathan Arfi, president of the Jewish group CRIF, said in an X post that the attack involved “exploding a gas canister in a car in front of the synagogue ... at the expected time of arrival of worshipers.”

“This is not just attacking a place of worship; it is an act to try to kill Jews. This is anti-Semitism in France. But the French Jews will not back down,” he said.

He criticized the leftist party LFI for using the Palestinian issue in an “outrageous and mendacious manner,” thereby putting the Jews in France at risk.

“These incendiary provocations must stop!” he said.

In November 2023, the European Commission said there was a “spike of anti-Semitic incidents” across the region, which came after the terrorist group Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

The commission increased EU funding to protect Jewish places of worship and other premises. It also instituted measures to ensure that social media platforms take swift action against anti-Semitic content.

In January, the commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, said that since the Oct. 7 attack, Jews in Europe have been “living again in fear.”

“Synagogues have been vandalized. Jewish cemeteries have been desecrated,” she said.

The American Jewish Committee called the recent attack in France an “attempt to terrorize” all Jews. It commended the French police for stopping the armed man.

Last month, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) published its survey of Jews, 80 percent of whom said they felt that anti-Semitism has grown in their country over the past five years, according to a statement.

“Most respondents continue to worry for their own (53 percent) and their family’s (60 percent) safety and security,” it said.

“Over the years, FRA research has shown that anti-Semitism tends to increase in times of tension in the Middle East. In this survey, 75 percent feel that people hold them responsible for the Israeli government’s actions because they are Jewish.”

The survey called for monitoring and adequate funding for strategies to combat anti-Semitism and action plans across Europe and for improving the recording of such incidents.

Reuters contributed to this report.