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Brutal Antisemitic Attacks in France, Germany Highlight Growing Threat to Jewish Communities Across Europe
Anti-Israel protesters march in Germany, March 26, 2025. Photo: Sebastian Willnow/dpa via Reuters Connect
Recent assaults in France and Germany highlight the ongoing threat of antisemitism facing Jewish communities throughout Europe.
On Saturday, a 67-year-old man wearing Orthodox Jewish clothing was physically attacked in Yerres, a suburb south of Paris.
While walking home from the mikveh, a Jewish ritual bath, the victim was brutally assaulted by an unknown man shouting antisemitic slurs, including, “Dirty Jew, I’m going to kill you.”
According to local media reports, the victim, identified as Gilles Cohen, was violently beaten as the assailant attempted to search his pockets for money and synagogue keys.
Grégoire Dulin, the local public prosecutor, confirmed the victim was released from the hospital and “has been given a 15-day total work incapacity order.”
Shortly after the attack, Cohen filed a police complaint, though authorities have yet to make any arrests.
“An investigation is underway on charges of attempted violent robbery resulting in total incapacity to work of more than eight days, committed on religious grounds, and for death threats on religious grounds,” Dulin told AFP.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry condemned the “shocking antisemitic attack,” wishing the victim a “swift and full recovery” while calling on French authorities to ensure justice and the safety of the Jewish community.
“Cohen was brutally assaulted, struck in the face several times, and called a ‘dirty Jew.’ This is an extremely serious act that reflects the alarming rise of antisemitism in France,” the statement read.
We strongly condemn the shocking antisemitic attack that took place on Saturday morning in Yerres (near Paris), where Mr. Gilles Cohen was brutally assaulted, struck in the face several times, and called a “dirty Jew”.
This is an extremely serious act that reflects the alarming… https://t.co/JacGJaV2zd
— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) September 28, 2025
Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF) — the main representative body of French Jews — also condemned the attack, describing it as the latest in a string of antisemitic assaults on rabbis in Orléans, Deauville, Neuilly, and Levallois in recent months.
“How long will this repeated hatred be tolerated?” Arfi wrote in a post on X.
“No one will uproot the Jews from France. But it is high time to uproot the antisemitism that is festering in society, using a conflict [1,800 miles] away as a pretext,” he continued, referring to the war in Gaza.
Agression antisémite à Yerres après celles de rabbins à Orléans, Deauville, Neuilly, Levallois ces derniers mois… Jusqu’à quand va-t-tolérer cette haine à répétition ?
Personne ne déracinera les Juifs de France. Mais il est plus que temps de déraciner l’antisémitisme qui…
— Yonathan Arfi (@Yonathan_Arfi) September 28, 2025
Since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, France has seen a sharp rise in anti-Jewish hate crimes and anti-Israel sentiment.
In an increasingly hostile climate, the local Jewish community has faced both violent assaults and attacks on schools and synagogues.
According to France’s Interior Ministry, more than 640 antisemitic incidents were recorded in the first six months of 2025 — a 27.5 prcent decrease from the same period in 2024 but a 112.5 percent increase compared with the first half of 2023.
In a separate incident in Germany, a 24-year-old Jewish man was brutally assaulted in the central city of Erfurt when another man saw he was wearing a Star of David necklace.
On Friday, the victim was physically attacked on a tram after an unknown individual spotted his necklace, attempting to drag him off, kicking him repeatedly, and threatening him before fleeing the scene.
Local police have launched an investigation and are reviewing tram footage, but no suspects have been arrested yet.
A police spokesperson told German newspaper Bild that the incident is being treated as a “politically motivated crime.”
Like several other countries, particularly in Europe, Germany has also seen a surge in antisemitic attacks targeting the local Jewish community.
According to a police report, 1,047 antisemitic crimes were recorded nationwide between January and March this year, including 27 violent assaults and 422 cases of incitement to hatred.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.