Two young Jewish children were harassed and intimidated at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport by a man who filmed himself verbally abusing them, ordering them to dance, and threatening to snatch their kippas unless they said they would “free Palestine.” The incident, captured on video and widely shared on social media, has been condemned as a clear case of antisemitic abuse directed at minors, reports The Jerusalem Post.
In the footage, the man addresses the boys in both English and French. He calls them “pig,” repeatedly demands that they dance, and threatens to take their religious head coverings if they do not comply with his political demands. At one point, he removes a video game controller from one child’s hands, telling him, “Give me that. It’s my turn.” The children appear confused but try to respond politely, despite the harassment.
Jewish advocacy organisations and public figures quickly denounced the incident. StandWithUs described the video as “horrific antisemitism” and linked it to the sharp rise in anti-Jewish incidents worldwide since Hamas’s attacks in southern Israel on 7 October 2023. The organisation stated that “antisemitism must be unequivocally condemned and urgently addressed, everywhere it occurs.”
Israeli rights activist Hen Mazzig also condemned the behaviour, noting that the children appeared not to fully understand English. “The children clearly didn’t speak English, but they tried to interact with him kindly,” he wrote. “I can only hope that it spared their innocent eyes from understanding the hatred being directed at them.” He added that “bullying Jewish children will not ‘Free Palestine.’”
The incident reflects broader concerns within France about Jewish safety. Recent polling shows that a large majority of French citizens recognise antisemitism as a widespread problem and believe that Jews in France are justified in feeling unsafe. The harassment at the airport comes amid a global surge in antisemitic incidents.
According to the Combat Antisemitism Movement’s Antisemitism Research Centre, 13,339 antisemitic incidents were documented worldwide between 7 October 2023 and 1 October 2025, underlining the scale and persistence of the threat faced by Jewish communities.
Photo Credit: STEPHANE MOUCHMOUCHE/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images
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