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Antisemitism in France has become heightened since the late 20th century and into the 21st century. In the early 21st century, mostJews in France, like mostMuslims in France, are of North African origin. France has the largest population of Jews in the diaspora after theUnited States—an estimated 500,000–600,000 persons.Paris has the highest population, followed byMarseille, which has 70,000 Jews. Expressions ofantisemitism were seen to rise during theSix-Day War of 1967 and the Frenchanti-Zionist campaign of the 1970s and 1980s.[1][2] Following the electoral successes achieved by the extreme right-wingNational Front and an increasing denial ofthe Holocaust among some persons in the 1990s, surveys showed an increase in stereotypical antisemitic beliefs among the general French population.[3][4][5]
At the beginning of the 21st century,antisemitism in France rose sharply during the unrest of theSecond Intifada inIsrael and the Palestinian territories, as it did in other European nations.[6] In addition, a significant proportion of the second-generationMuslim immigrant population in France began to identify with the Palestinian cause, with some also identifying with radical Islamism.[7][8][9] In the early 2000s, a critical debate on the nature of antisemitism in France accompanied denunciation of it in relation to the situation in the Middle East and to Islam. Divisions developed among anti-racist groups.[6][10][11] Since 2023, France has experienced a sharp increase in reported antisemitic incidents compared to previous years.[12][13][14]
Alarmed by violence and verbal attacks, some French Jews began to emigrate to Israel. By early 2014 the number of French Jews makingaliyah (emigrating to Israel) surpassed the number of American Jews who were emigrating. At the same time 70 percent of French Jews reported in surveys that they were concerned about insults or harassment and 60% about physical aggression because of their ethnicity; both figures are much higher than shown in surveys of the European average.[15] In accordance with this, a survey conducted in 2024 found that one in five young French people thinks it would be a good thing that Jews leave the country.[16]
At the turn of the 21st century, France had an estimated 500,000 to 600,000 Jews, most of themSephardic and of North African origin. This is the second-largest population outside of Israel, and after that in the United States. A quarter of the historicAshkenazi Jewish population in France was murdered in theHolocaust ofWorld War II. After the war, the French government passed laws to suppress antisemitic discrimination and actions, and to protect Jews in the country.[7]
In the 1950s and 1960s, many Sephardic Jews emigrated to France from countries such asAlgeria,Morocco, andTunisia, which had gained independence from colonial rule through extended warfare against France.[7] The wars for independence left both sides with considerable bitterness, and Algeria was immersed in civil war for years after gaining independence. Jews left North Africa as relations in the area became more strained during theSix-Day War of 1967 between Israel,Egypt and other Arab forces. This increased tensions across the Arab world. The rise of theSecond Intifada, beginning in 2000, contributed to rising tensions with Arab Muslims and Jews feeling less welcome in North African nations. Most have now left the region.[7]
Beginning in the late 20th century, more Arabs from North African nations began to emigrate to France for economic reasons and to escape civil wars in their home nations. Historically numerous North African Arabs had lived and worked in France since before World War II. The Muslim community built theGrand Mosque in Paris in 1929. Its Imam (Si Kaddour Benghabrit) and numerous members helped protect Jews from deportation during the Holocaust.[17]
In the mid-1990s historians renewed a critical study ofNational Socialism, collaboration, and the responsibility of theVichy Regime for deportation of Jews during the Holocaust. They contested the bookVichy France: Old Guard and New Order, 1940–1944 (1972) (published in French asLa France de Vichy) by American historianRobert Paxton, who had said the Vichy Regime cooperated withNazi Germany.[6]
British historianMaud S. Mandel bases her inquiryJews and Muslims in France: A History of a Conflict (2014) on historic relations among the peoples of North Africa.[18] She attributes the roots of Muslim antisemitism among second-generation immigrants in France to earlier inter-communal relations among the peoples in Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco; the course ofdecolonization in North Africa; and events in the continuingArab–Israeli conflict. Sociologists such asNonna Mayer, Laurent Mucchielli and others have said that antisemitic opinions have been in decline in France since the end of the Second World War, and that other forms of racism have been more widespread than antisemitism.[19][20] Members of the French Jewish community criticized this conclusion.[21]
France has struggled to help Arab working-class youth find work, as their unemployment rate is high. In their isolated public housing communities outside Paris, antisemitic sentiment is prevalent.[7] In 2016 Paris has the largest population of Jews in France, followed byMarseille, which has 70,000.[22]
Many working-class Arabs and Sephardic Jews also settled in cities in southern France, which had long been linked by trade and culture to North Africa. In many of these communities, such asNice and Marseille, Arab and Jewish immigrants from North African nations have lived in mixed communities as they began to make new lives in France. Both Jews and Muslims are minorities in France. Many North African Jews worked with Arab immigrants to combat racism in France against the latter group, and support other progressive causes.
French concerns about antisemitism among second-generation Arab groups is also related to general concerns about Islamicterrorism in the country. In 2015 Paris suffered two major Islamic attacks, which were generally targeted at all French people. In addition, from the end of 2015 into early 2016, there were independent attacks against individual Jews in several cities, including three in Marseille from October to January.
In 2017 it was reported that "A former principal at a preparatory school for teenagers...said he regularly advised Jews not to attend his institution for fear of harassment by other students" and that only a third of Jews attend public schools.[23]
The National Consultative Commission on Human Rights (Commission nationale consultative des droits de l'homme, CNCDH) has issued annual reports on antisemitic activities as part of the French oversight of human rights. It recorded disturbing levels of antisemitic actions and threats in France between 2002 and 2004 (the height of theSecond Intifada), and in 2009. According to CNCDH, it defined actions to be tracked ashomicides, attacks and attempted attacks,arson, degradations, and violence and assault and battery. Antisemitic threats are defined as covering speech acts, threatening gestures and insults, graffiti (inscriptions), pamphlets and emails. Its data was relied on in the FRA (European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights) report of antisemitism incidents in France from 2001 to 2011, which was issued in June 2012.[24] An additional report was filled in 2023 for the years 2012 to 2022.[25] In 2024, a report was written by theConseil Représentatif des Institutions juives de France (CRIF) detailing the number and types of antisemitic incidents that occurred in 2023 and it showed a fourfold increase in antisemitic incidents.[12] A report released by CRIF in January 2025 reveals that 1,570 antisemitic incidents were reported in France over the course of 2024.[13]
| Antisemitic actions and threats recorded in France | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Number of incidents | Year | Number of incidents | Year | Number of incidents |
| 2001 | 219 | 2012 | 614 | 2023 | 1676 |
| 2002 | 936 | 2013 | 423 | 2024 | 1570 |
| 2003 | 601 | 2014 | 851 | ||
| 2004 | 974 | 2015 | 808 | ||
| 2005 | 508 | 2016 | 335 | ||
| 2006 | 571 | 2017 | 311 | ||
| 2007 | 402 | 2018 | 541 | ||
| 2008 | 459 | 2019 | 687 | ||
| 2009 | 815 | 2020 | 339 | ||
| 2010 | 466 | 2021 | 589 | ||
| 2011 | 389 | 2022 | 436 | ||
The Criminal Affairs and Pardon Board at the Ministry of Justice (Direction des affaires criminelles et des graces, DACG) keeps records related to the number of indictments charged in the calendar year in relation to racist, antisemitic and discriminatory offenses.[24]
| Indictments relating to offences relating to racism | Indictments relating principally to racist offences | Indictments relating exclusively to racist offences | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 211 | 152 | 115 |
| 2002 | 228 | 158 | 115 |
| 2003 | 208 | 145 | 105 |
| 2004 | 345 | 236 | 165 |
| 2005 | 573 | 380 | 253 |
| 2006 | 611 | 364 | 275 |
| 2007 | 577 | 423 | 306 |
| 2008 | 682 | 469 | 344 |
| 2009 | 579 | 397 | 288 |
| 2010 | 567 | 397 | 298 |
The2002 Lyon car attack was part of a wave of increased attacks on Jews and Jewish targets in France in the early 21st century. Analysts related it to the Second Intifada in Israel and the Palestinian territories.[26][27]
On January 21, 2006,Ilan Halimi, a young French Jewish man of Moroccan descent was kidnapped by a group called the Gang of Barbarians, led by Youssouf Fofana. Halimi was subsequently tortured over a period of three weeks, resulting in his death.[28]
From March 11 to 19, 2012, Mohammed Merah, a French man of Algerian descent born inToulouse, committed theToulouse and Montauban shootings, a series of three attacks against French soldiers and civilians in Toulouse and Montauban, in theMidi-Pyrénees region. The last day he attacked a Jewish day school in Toulouse, killing a teacher, Yonatan Sandler and three children (aged 8, 5 & 3), and wounding a teenager. He killed a total of three French Muslim soldiers in Toulouse and Montauban, and seriously wounded a fourth.[29] During the 30-hour police siege at his apartment on March 22, Merah wounded three police men before he was killed by a police sniper.
In 2014, there was a brutal attack that took place in the town of Creteil south-east of Paris. The two victims, a woman aged 19 and her boyfriend, 21, were tied up in his family's flat and the woman was raped. Their lawyer said three men of north African origin, Abdou Salam Koita, Ladje Haidara and Houssame Hatri,[30] had burst into the flat, telling the boyfriend: "You Jews, you have money."
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Attacks on Jews had a record high in 2015, the numbers fell 58% in 2016 and fell a further 7% in 2017. In 2018, the first nine months of the year saw a 69% rise in attacks. Despite only representing 1% of the population in France, Jews were the target of 40% of racially or religiously motivated violent acts in 2017.[31]
Increases in violent attacks on Jews in France since 2015 are thought to put "the very existence of Jewish communities" in France in doubt.[32][33]
During theJanuary 2015 Île-de-France attacks, thePorte de Vincennes siege involved a gunman taking hostages at a Kosher supermarket. In the aftermath of the attacks, the French government increased the presence of soldiers outside prominent Jewish buildings.[34]
In the February2015 Nice stabbing attack soldiers guarding a Jewish community center in Nice were attacked by anIslamist supporter ofISIL wielding a knife.[35]
On 24 October 2015, three Jewish men outside a synagogue inMarseille were stabbed by a man shouting anti-Jewish slogans. One of the victims sustained serious abdominal wounds; he was expected to survive. The assailant was apprehended.[36]
On 18 November 2015 a teacher inMarseille walking on the street was stabbed by three men who shouted anti-Jewish slogans; one of the men wore anISIS T-shirt. The three men, riding two scooters, had approached the teacher and stabbed him in the arm and in the leg. They fled when a car approached.[37][38][39]
On January 12, 2016, Benjamin Amsellem, a teacher, was attacked by a teenage boy wielding a machete outside a Jewish school in Marseille. The attacker claimed to be acting in the name ofISIS.[40] Amsellem resisted by parrying some of the machete blows with the large, leather-bound Bible he was carrying.[22] The attacker was a Kurdish Muslim whose family emigrated to France from Turkey. An excellent student from a stable, pious home, he is said by French authorities to have self-radicalized by spending long hours reading Islamist websites.[22]
On August 18, 2016, a "confirmed anti-semite"[41][42] shouted "allahu akbar"[43] (Takbir), as he attacked a 62-year-old Jew wearing akippah on avenue des Vosges inStrasbourg. The attacker had previously stabbed another Jew in 2010 in Kléber square. The French Minister of the Interior,Bernard Cazeneuve, called the rabbi of Strasbourg to express his "solidarity". The attacker was said to have mental problems.[44] The attacker was charged the following day with "attempted murder based on the victim's appearance belonging to a race or religion."[45]
On April 4, 2017, retired kindergarten professor, Dr. Sarah Halimi, anOrthodox Jew, was murdered and subsequently thrown off her Paris balcony by Mali-born Kobili Traoré, who shouted "allahu akbar" as he beat her to death.[46][47][48] The murder sparked a public conversation in France about the failure of the press to report on and the failure of the government to act on violent antisemitism in France.[46][47]
In March 2018, an elderly woman, Mireille Knoll, was brutally murdered in her apartment in a subsidized housing project in Paris in a killing that was immediately declared and officially recognized as an act of Jew hatred.[49]
On 16 February 2019, a group of individuals involved in ayellow-vests march confronted 69-year-old Jewish philosopher and academicAlain Finkielkraut with verbalantisemitic abuse. Police stepped in to protect him, and Macron later said that this behaviour was an "absolute negation" of what made France great and would not be tolerated.[50]
Statistics published in February 2019 showed a rise of 74% in the number of antisemitic attacks in the previous year, from 311 (2017) to 541 (2018).[51]
In late 2018 and early 2019, a number of attacks occurred, such as the defacing of portraits of the late Holocaust survivor and French ministerSimone Veil, scrawling the German word for "Jews" on a Parisian bakery and cutting down a tree planted in memory of a Jewish youth tortured and murdered by an antisemitic gang. In February 2019, nearly 100 graves were desecrated with Nazi symbols theQuatzenheim Jewish cemetery in theAlsace region of eastern France. PresidentEmmanuel Macron visited the site to show solidarity with the whole of France, vowing that the perpetrators would be punished using current laws.[51][52]
Concerns have been raised in France about whether thegilets jaunes movement is providing a new kind of forum for extremist views, sinceAlain Finkielkraut was verbally abused on 16 February 2019. Vincent Duclert, a specialist in French antisemitism, said that "thegilets jaunes are not an anti-Semitic movement, but alongside the demonstration each Saturday there's a lot of anti-Semitic expression by groups of the extreme right or extreme left." Jean-Yves Camus, expert in French political extremism, talked of "a new space for different kinds of anti-Semitism to come together: from the extreme right and extreme left, but also from radical Islamist or anti-Zionist groups, and some types of social conservatives". Politicians expressed different views of how or why antisemitic influences may be infiltrating the movement and the rise of antisemitism in France in the past couple of years.[53]
In November 2023, a Jewish woman in her thirties was stabbed in her doorstep inLyon while a swastika was found graffitied at her home. The prosecutor's office said there could be "an anti-Semitic motive" to the attack.[54][55]
According to a report from theConseil Représentatif des Institutions juives de France (CRIF), the number of antisemitic crimes in France in 2023 nearly quadrupled compared to 2022, with 1,676 reported incidents.[12]
On 12 February 2024, a 35-year-old Jewish man was stabbed 6 times in Paris, the attacker was using anti-semitic remarks while attacking and a public prosecutor's office opened an investigation into the offense of attempted murder on grounds of religion. The victim and the attacker are reported to be childhood friends who recently got back in touch.[56][57]
On 17 May 2024, asynagogue in Rouen was set on fire by an Algerian man, who threw a petrol bomb through a small window. The arsonist, equipped with a knife, climbed onto the synagogue's roof and threatened police officers before being shot. The fire inside the synagogue was eventually brought under control by firefighters, with no reported victims other than the assailant. Damage inside the synagogue was significant, although the Torah scrolls remained unharmed.[58][59]
In June 2024, French police launched an investigation into the gang rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl inCourbevoie, in what is being treated as an antisemitic crime. The suspects, three teenagers aged 12–14, are set to appear in court. One suspect, an ex-boyfriend of the victim, allegedly sought vengeance after learning of her Jewish identity, with investigators finding antisemitic content on his phone, including images of a burned Israeli flag. Another suspect admitted to hitting the victim due to her negative comments about Palestine.[60] The girl was reportedly called a "dirty Jew" and received death threats.[61]
On 5–6 January 2025, at least 10 Jewish homes, businesses, and a synagogue in Paris andRouen have been vandalized with antisemitic symbols, includingswastikas. Some of the graffiti praisedHitler, while others said antisemitic slogans, such as "Jews pedophiles, rapists to be gassed".[62]
On 22 March 2025, the Chief Rabbi ofOrleans, Rabbi Arié Engelberg, was attacked while walking with his young son in the city center. The assailant hurled antisemitic insults at him before physically assaulting him. French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the attack and denounced the “poison of antisemitism,” expressing his support with the country’s Jewish community.[63]
In 2025, former Hamas hostageMia Schem reported that a yellow ribbon she wore in support of the remaining hostages to theCannes Film festival had been confiscated by the event's organizers upon her arrival at the red carpet.[64]
According to the collection of twoAnti-Defamation League (ADL) opinion surveys conducted in five European nations (which included France,The United Kingdom,Germany,Denmark, andBelgium) in June 2002, and five additional European nations in October 2002, 42% of respondents in France believed that Jews were more loyal to Israel than their own country, 42% said Jews have too much power in the business world, and 46% believed Jews talked too much about theHolocaust.Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, said, "These findings are especially disturbing because they show that the old, classical form of antisemitism, which we had hoped was long gone in Europe, continues to be resilient".[65]
In 2004, ADL conducted the same opinion survey in ten European nations, including France . The report said that 25% of the residents of the ten nations held antisemitic attitudes, down from 35% in five nations in 2002. 28% responded "probably true" to the statement, "Jews are more loyal to Israel than their own country", down from 42% in 2002. 15% responded "probably true" to the statement, "Jews don't care about anyone but their own kind", down from 20%.[66]
In May 2005, the ADL published an opinion survey conducted in 12 European countries regarding popular attitudes toward Jews. The 2005 survey indicated that since 2004 and the survey of 10 nations, there was some decline in the acceptance of certain traditional antisemitic stereotypes. 25% responded "probably true" to the statement, "Jews have too much power in the business world", down from 33% in 2004, while 24% responded "probably true" to the statement "Jews have too much power in international financial markets", down from 29% in 2004.[67]
Two years later, in May 2007, the ADL published another opinion survey conducted in five European nations. It found that 22% of respondents answered "probably true" to at least three of the four antisemitic stereotypes tested: Jews are more loyal to Israel than to this country, Jews have too much power in the business world, Jews have too much power in international financial markets, Jews still talk too much about what happened to them in the Holocaust. According to the survey, respondents believed that violence directed against French Jews was based more on anti-Jewish feelings than anti-Israel sentiment.[68]
TheFriedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) organization published a report in 2011,Intolerance, Prejudice and Discrimination: A European Report. It concluded that antisemitic attitudes in France that same year, as a whole, were less widespread than the European average. According to a survey conducted by FES, 27.7% agreed with the statement "Jews have too much influence in France" and 25.8% agreed with the statement "Jews in general do not care about anything or anyone but their own kind" (implying disloyalty to the nation).[69]
In 2012, the ADL conducted another opinion survey of antisemitic attitudes in 10 European countries. It reported that the overall level of antisemitism in France had increased to 24% of the population, up from to 20% in 2009. In terms of specific statements, 45% responded "probably true" related to "Jews are more loyal to Israel" than their own country, up from 38% in 2009. 35% responded "probably true" to the statement, "Jews have too much power in the business world", up from 33% in 2009. 29% responded "probably true" to the statement "Jews have too much power in international financial markets", up from 27% in 2009.[70] Foxman, ADL National Director, has said regarding those findings:
In France, you have a volatile mix. France has seen an increase in the level of anti-Semitism. At the same time, more people today believe that violence directed against European Jews is fueled by anti-Jewish attitudes as opposed to anti-Israel sentiment. Those increases are all the more disturbing in light of the [2012] shooting attack at the Jewish school in Toulouse.[70]
The French Jewish establishment has traditionally worked with the government and various community groups on legal routes and education to combat and reduce antisemitism.CRIF, an umbrella body of French Jewish communities, has used outreach and education to lessen tensions among various ethnic groups and to combat antisemitism.[71]
The authorities are prosecuting persons both for violent acts and for violating laws related toHolocaust denial and reducing antisemitism. In several instances, the national or local governments have increased police protection around Jewish sites or Jewish neighborhoods in an effort to prevent attacks.[citation needed].
The level of violence in French society related to antisemitism has been complicated by actions of theLigue de Défense Juive (LDJ, French Jewish Defense League), which registered in 2001.[71] With about 300 members in 2013, the LDJ was condemned by the French Jewish establishment, which threatens court action against it. Its relations have been strained withCRIF, the umbrella body of French Jewish communities.[71]
A selection of other responses to antisemitism follows:
Il s'agit d'un déséquilibré de 44 ans, antisémite revendiqué
l'agresseur semble ne rien avoir perdu de sa haine antisémite
Un juif religieux d'une soixantaine d'années a été blessé après avoir été attaqué au couteau à Strasbourg par un homme qui a crié "Allahu Akbar".
A police source said the victim was in distinctive Jewish dress
le parquet de Strasbourg a annoncé samedi soir dans un communiqué avoir ouvert une information judiciaire «pour tentative de meurtre sur une victime en raison de son appartenance réelle ou supposée à une race ou à une religion»
[France President Macron] also called for an investigation into the death of Sarah Halimi, a 66-year-old woman who in April was thrown from the window of her Paris apartment
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