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Rouen Mayor Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol condemned the antisemitic vandalism on Tuesday, saying on Facebook that such action had no place in the city or republic.
By MICHAEL STARR JANUARY 8, 2025 18:20
French police work near a door with the Jewish Star of David symbol after officers shot dead an armed man earlier who set fire to the city's synagogue in Rouen, France, May 17, 2024.
(photo credit: REUTERS/GONZALO FUENTES)
A French synagogue, which had in recent months been attacked by a knife-wielding arsonist, was vandalized, the Rouen Synagogue announced on Tuesday.
Those that had drawn Nazi swastikas on the synagogue wall were "cowards," the synagogue said on Facebook.
Le Monde reported that the synagogue had decided to alert to antisemitic graffiti that had been discovered on the synagogue, the rabbi's residence, and a law office between last Sunday and early January.
"Jewish pedophile rapists to be gassed," was scrawled in pink under a swastika in one photograph shared by the synagogue. Another swastika was accompanied by the words "Hitler actor."
Rouen Mayor Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol condemned the antisemitic vandalism on Tuesday, saying on Facebook that such action had no place in the city or republic.
The Union of French Jewish (UEJF) said on X that the antisemitic incident occurred after the Rouen Synagogue was still scarred by a May arson attack. Then The Jerusalem Post visited the site in July, the fire damage was still in the process of being repaired. An Algerian man without residency permits had climbed atop the synagogue and set it on fire. The synagogue treasurer told The Post in July that the attacker had hoped to stab worshippers fleeing the flames, but the building was empty that Friday morning. A police officer shot the armed attacker.
An auspicious week
Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF) president Yonathan Arfi told RTL France that the same phenomenon that informed the Rouen graffiti was the same antisemitism that had led to the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack. Tuesday was the anniversary of the incident.
"It was 10 years ago that Islamist barbarity attacked freedom of expression by assassinating part of the editorial staff of Charlie Hebdo," CRIF memorialized on X. "Let us continue to defend freedom of expression without fail."
This week also commemorates the Hypercacher kosher supermarket terrorist attack. Ahead of the Wednesday anniversary, counter-antisemitism group Collectif Nous Vivrons expressed dismay on X that antisemitic graffiti had been discovered on Monday near the site of the massacre.
Saint-Mande Mayor Julien Weil said in a Monday statement that around thirty stars of David had been inscribed on shops and walls in Saint-Mande and Vincennes at a time that the town was commemorating the two traumatic 2015 national tragedies.
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"In the face of these despicable acts, I want to strongly reaffirm that nothing and no one will distract us from our duty of remembrance and respect for the victims," said Weil. "These acts are part of a border context of an increase in antisemitic acts in France in recent months. Antisemitism, in all its forms, is an offense to our republican values and a threat to our social cohesion."
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