French Synagogue Rocked By Suspected Terror Blast

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent

PARIS (Worthy News) – French President Emmanuel Macron said Saturday there had been another terrorist attack against the Jewish community that left one police officer injured following an explosion outside a synagogue.

Macron stressed that the synagogue attack in La Grande-Motte, a Mediterranean resort east of Montpellier, was a “terrorist act.”

He pledged that “everything is being done to find [its] perpetrator.” Macron acknowledged that “The fight against antisemitism is a constant battle.”

Macron made the comments on social media platform X as French police were ordered to step up security around Jewish places of worship, schools, and centers across the country following the synagogue blast.

Two cars, one believed to have contained a bottle of gas, parked in front of the Beth Yaacov synagogue. Sources said they were set alight outside at about 8.30 am on Saturday.

Two doors at the building were also set alight, according to police.

SPECIAL INQUIRY

Police officers, who opened an inquiry into “attempted murder linked to a terrorist organization,” are trying to identify an individual captured on security cameras walking away from the vehicles minutes before the explosion.

Officials said France’s specialist anti-terrorism prosecutor was investigating the attack.

Saturday’s attack came shortly after the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, claimed a stabbing at a festival in neighboring Germany that killed three and injured eight others.

The Islamic group said the attack was carried out by one of its members “in revenge for Muslims in Palestine and everywhere.”

France, like other countries in Europe, has seen a surge in antisemitic incidents following the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7 that prompted Israel’s war against the group in Gaza.

Police officers, who opened an inquiry into “attempted murder linked to a terrorist organization,” are trying to identify an individual captured on security cameras walking away from the vehicles minutes before the explosion.

ANTITERRORISM PROSECUTOR

Officials said France’s specialist anti-terrorism prosecutor was investigating the attack.

Saturday’s attack came shortly after the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, claimed a stabbing at a festival in neighboring Germany that killed three and injured eight others.

The Islamic group said the attack was carried out by one of its members “in revenge for Muslims in Palestine and everywhere.”

France, like other European countries, has seen increased antisemitic incidents after Hamas attacks on Israel killed 1,200 people on October 7, prompting Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

The Hamas-run Health Ministry says more than 40,000 Palestinians were killed in 10 months of warfare. These figures have been complex to verify independently, and Hamas-linked authorities do not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

With roughly half a million Jewish people, France has the world’s third-largest Jewish population, according to researchers, though thousands of Jews have left for Israel in recent years amid rising tensions.

Already in January 2015, Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told French and European Jews they would be welcomed with “open arms” if they chose to emigrate to Israel. His statement came as prepared for a march in Paris at the time in solidarity with victims of killings – including four French Jews murdered in a kosher supermarket.

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