French police have arrested a 33-year-old Algerian man suspected of trying to set fire to the Beth Yaacov synagogue in Southern France.
A French police officer was injured in the attack against the Beth Yaacov synagogue in the coastal town of La Grande-Motte on Saturday, which France’s Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin claimed was an arson attack, reports The Jerusalem Post.
The car explosion caused a second car to catch fire, and the flames spread to the synagogue’s front doors.
Both Darmanin and Macron expressed sympathies with the Jewish citizens and assured them of full support, mobilising all means to find the perpetrator.
About 200 policemen had been searching for the suspect, and the anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office was put in charge of the investigation. The latter confirmed early Sunday that a suspect had been arrested in Nîmes on Saturday evening.
„Before the police could intervene, (the suspect) opened fire on the (police), who returned fire. The man was wounded in the face,” the office said in a statement, adding that two other people had been taken into custody.
Josep Borrell, EU Foreign Affairs representative, said, „The arson attack on the synagogue in La Grande-Motte is a heinous antisemitic act that I condemn in the strongest possible terms. My thoughts are with the Jewish citizens of France. The unwavering fight against antisemitism and all forms of hatred remains our collective duty.” „The fight against antisemitism is an ongoing battle, one that the entire nation must undertake together,” said Macron in an X post.
French news outlet Le Parisien had obtained a photo of the suspect, which was captured on surveillance footage in front of the synagogue shortly before the attack, showing the suspect wearing a Palestinian flag around his legs.
Yonathan Arfi, the president of France’s Representative Council of Jewish Institutions (CRIF), wrote on X: „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.” European Jewish Congress (EJC) President Dr Ariel Muzicant asserted that attacking a synagogue at the time of Shabbat prayers has „as one aim – to kill Jews.” He then called on European governments, and the French in particular, to „enhance measures outside Jewish institutions to guarantee the security of Jewish citizens, while working constantly to combat this environment of hate. An appropriate start would be a zero-tolerance policy towards marches of hate against Jews and Israel on the streets of our cities.”
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