France: Antisemitic incidents increased by 75% in 2021
Dozens of incidents happened within the space of 11 days in May, when Israel and Hamas were exchanging fire amid rioting by Israeli Arabs and attacks on Arabs by Israeli Jews. During that period, SPCJ documented on average five antisemitic incidents per day • Full Story
Arutz Sheva
Reports of antisemitic incidents in France increased by 75% in 2021, according to figures released by the French Jewish community’s main watchdog group and quoted by JTA.
SPCJ recorded 589 hate crimes against Jews last year, including a 36% increase in physical assaults over 2020. The group released its annual report Wednesday.
Incidents targeting people – as opposed to communal buildings and institutions – accounted for 45% of all incidents in 2021. Of those, 10% were physical assaults.
A quarter of all incidents happened inside or just outside the victims’ homes, typically perpetrated by a neighbor, SPCJ said, adding this was a new and worrisome phenomenon.
Use of weapons, mostly knives and guns, in antisemitic incidents was also unusually high in 2021, occurring in 20% of all assaults and 10% of all cases of intimidation, the report said.
In nearly a third of all cases, perpetrators indicated they were motivated by issues connected to Palestinian Aras, the report added.
Dozens of incidents happened within the space of 11 days in May, when Israel and Hamas were exchanging fire amid rioting by Israeli Arabs and attacks on Arabs by Israeli Jews. During that period, SPCJ documented on average five antisemitic incidents per day.
Out of 160 incidents that SPCJ classified as “violent crimes,” 60 were assaults against people. There were three cases of arson and 68 incidents involving antisemitic vandalism. Additionally, SPCJ recorded 429 cases of what the group classified as “intimidation.”
The figures are in line with the sharp rise in antisemitic attacks in France in recent years. In 2019, for example, a total of 687 anti-Semitic acts were counted in 2019, compared to 541 the previous year.
The number of anti-Jewish offences reported to police in France surged 74 percent in 2018.
The antisemitic attacks in France in 2021 included one incident in March, in which a man armed with a knife attempted to enter a Jewish school and a kosher supermarket in Marseille.
Police officers gained control of the suspect and arrested him.
A month later, Jewish residents of a Paris suburb chased and overpowered a man who witnesses said tried to stab three Jews, then handed him over to police.
In September, an 11-year-old boy was repeatedly attacked near Paris by two 14-year-olds who allegedly targeted him for being Jewish. The case was only made public in November.
In December, an elderly Jewish man was tied to a chair, beaten and robbed in his Paris apartment by antisemitic assailants.
That same month, a 74-year-old Jewish woman was brutally beaten and robbed in her Paris apartment, though that incident was not reported until the start of January.
47
Join ChabadInfo's News Roundup and alerts for the HOTTEST Chabad news and updates!
Related Posts:
Most Popular
New Videos
Editor's Picks
