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French City Targeted With Antisemitic Graffiti, Threats, Sparking Outrage
The facade of the local office of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF) in Grenoble is defaced with antisemitic graffiti. Photo: Screenshot
French authorities have launched an investigation after antisemitic graffiti and death threats were discovered on several public buildings, prompting outrage from the local Jewish community as it continues to face relentless targeting amid a growing wave of antisemitism in France.
On Thursday, antisemitic and hateful slogans were scrawled on the local office of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF) — the main representative body of French Jews — in Grenoble, a city in southeastern France.
Unknown individuals also vandalized the offices of municipal candidate Hervé Gerbi, the former chair of CRIF’s Grenoble branch until 2024.
“I am aware that there are still voters to be convinced. The message written on the door of my office is an illustration of this. We must convince people that security is the first of freedoms and that secularism is our common good,” Gerbi said in a statement.
In this latest attack, the buildings were defaced with graffiti reading “A slow and painful death to every member of the CRIF,” “F–k the CRIF,” and “Goy Power,” a phrase linked to online white supremacist and antisemitic movements.
A Grenoble, voilà les menaces de mort taguées cette nuit sur les bureaux du président du Crif Grenoble Dauphiné, Eric Hattab, et de son prédécesseur, Hervé Gerbi.
La haine des Juifs s’est banalisée. Quand réagira-t-on?
Nous ne laisserons personne intimider les Français juifs. pic.twitter.com/oSBAapLEmX
— Yonathan Arfi (@Yonathan_Arfi) October 16, 2025
Local police have opened an investigation into the incident after Gerbi and CRIF filed a complaint, though no arrests have been made so far.
Yonathan Arfi, president of CRIF, strongly condemned the incident as part of an ongoing surge of anti-Jewish hate crimes that has only intensified since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza in October 2023.
“Hatred against Jews has become widespread. When will there be a response?” Arfi wrote in a post on X. “We will not let anyone intimidate the Jewish community in France.”
Éric Hattab, head of CRIF in the region, also condemned the incident, warning that many Jews — particularly younger members of the community — are considering leaving France amid the growing climate of hostility.
“It doesn’t scare me at all. If they’re trying to intimidate me, it’s a waste of time. I will continue my mission to serve the Jewish community in Grenoble without letting these threats and graffiti deter me,” Hattab said in a statement.
“Today, we hide our Jewish identity, no one wears a kippah anymore, we remove the mezuzah, we avoid being recognized,” he continued.
“Entering a synagogue wondering if there will be an attack is unprecedented and unbearable,” Hattab said, urging a nationwide stand against hatred.
In a press release, Grenoble Mayor Éric Piolle also condemned the incident, saying he was “deeply shocked” by such hatred.
“We must continue to fight this poison that is antisemitism with all our strength, without respite,” Piolle said.
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Tucker’s Ideas About Jews Come from Darkest Corners of the Internet, Says Huckabee After Combative Interview
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee looks on during the day he visits the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem’s Old City, April 18, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – In a combative interview with US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, right-wing firebrand Tucker Carlson made a host of contentious and often demonstrably false claims that quickly went viral online. Huckabee, who repeatedly challenged the former Fox News star during the interview, subsequently made a long post on X, identifying a pattern of bad-faith arguments, distortions and conspiracies in Carlson’s rhetorical style.
Huckabee pointed out his words were not accorded by Carlson the same degree of attention and curiosity the anchor evinced toward such unsavory characters as “the little Nazi sympathizer Nick Fuentes or the guy who thought Hitler was the good guy and Churchill the bad guy.”
“What I wasn’t anticipating was a lengthy series of questions where he seemed to be insinuating that the Jews of today aren’t really same people as the Jews of the Bible,” Huckabee wrote, adding that Tucker’s obsession with conspiracies regarding the provenance of Ashkenazi Jews obscured the fact that most Israeli Jews were refugees from the Arab and Muslim world.
The idea that Ashkenazi Jews are an Asiatic tribe who invented a false ancestry “gained traction in the 80’s and 90’s with David Duke and other Klansmen and neo-Nazis,” Huckabee wrote. “It has really caught fire in recent years on the Internet and social media, mostly from some of the most overt antisemites and Jew haters you can find.”
Carlson branded Israel “probably the most violent country on earth” and cited the false claim that Israel President Isaac Herzog had visited the infamous island of the late, disgraced sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“The current president of Israel, whom I know you know, apparently was at ‘pedo island.’ That’s what it says,” Carlson said, citing a debunked claim made by The Times reporter Gabrielle Weiniger. “Still-living, high-level Israeli officials are directly implicated in Epstein’s life, if not his crimes, so I think you’d be following this.”
Another misleading claim made by Carlson was that there were more Christians in Qatar than in Israel.
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Pezeshkian Says Iran Will Not Bow to Pressure Amid US Nuclear Talks
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attends the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit 2025, in Tianjin, China, September 1, 2025. Iran’s Presidential website/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Saturday that his country would not bow its head to pressure from world powers amid nuclear talks with the United States.
“World powers are lining up to force us to bow our heads… but we will not bow our heads despite all the problems that they are creating for us,” Pezeshkian said in a speech carried live by state TV.
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Italy’s RAI Apologizes after Latest Gaffe Targets Israeli Bobsleigh Team
Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics – Bobsleigh – 4-man Heat 1 – Cortina Sliding Centre, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy – February 21, 2026. Adam Edelman of Israel, Menachem Chen of Israel, Uri Zisman of Israel, Omer Katz of Israel in action during Heat 1. Photo: REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha
Italy’s state broadcaster RAI was forced to apologize to the Jewish community on Saturday after an off‑air remark advising its producers to “avoid” the Israeli crew was broadcast before coverage of the Four-Man bobsleigh event at the Winter Olympics.
The head of RAI’s sports division had already resigned earlier in the week after his error-ridden commentary at the Milano Cortina 2026 opening ceremony two weeks ago triggered a revolt among its journalists.
On Saturday, viewers heard “Let’s avoid crew number 21, which is the Israeli one” and then “no, because …” before the sound was cut off.
RAI CEO Giampaolo Rossi said the incident represented a “serious” breach of the principles of impartiality, respect and inclusion that should guide the public broadcaster.
He added that RAI had opened an internal inquiry to swiftly determine any responsibility and any potential disciplinary procedures.
In a separate statement RAI’s board of directors condemned the remark as “unacceptable.”
The board apologized to the Jewish community, the athletes involved and all viewers who felt offended.
RAI is the country’s largest media organization and operates national television, radio and digital news services.
The union representing RAI journalists, Usigrai, had said Paolo Petrecca’s opening ceremony commentary had dealt “a serious blow” to the company’s credibility.
His missteps included misidentifying venues and public figures, and making comments about national teams that were widely criticized.