Jews In France Fear Reprisals From Israel-Hamas War

Middle East tensions get much attention in France, which is also home to an estimated five to seven million people of Arab descent, the second-largest ethnic group in the population of 65 million.

"We are all stunned," said Herve Rehby, a doctor who is also the co-president of the Yavne cultural centre in Bordeaux, southwestern France.

"Everybody is calling everybody to find out more. Everybody has family and friends in Israel," he said.

Ady Walter, 40, said he was "speechless for the first time ever" as he emerged from a synagogue in the Marais district of Paris.

Like many other Jewish places of worship and institutions, the synagogue had upgraded police protection after Saturday's Hamas attack on Israel.

Walter said he feared that the conflict could spread across the Middle East, but also that Jews in France could be "targeted by ricochet".

Earlier Sunday, Walter said he had asked his son to remove his kippa, a skullcap worn by orthodox Jewish men, when crossing the street.

"You never know who might be in the cars passing by," he said.

In the southern port city of Marseille Pierre Adjedj, 82, said he too feared hostile acts in France "with a heightened risk of attacks".

Yonathan Arfi, the president of the Council of Jewish Institutions in France (CRIF) told AFP that there was often "a correlation between a flare-up of violence in the Middle East and anti-Semitic acts in France".

Attackers like Mohamed Merah who killed three children and an adult in a Jewish school in Toulouse in 2012 "justify their acts by what is happening to Palestinian children", he said.

Arfi added he feared that "sleeper cells or lone individuals" might want to bring the fight against Israel to France "via a misguided identification with the Palestinian cause".

The vice-president of a synagogue in Blanc-Mesnil north of Paris, Gerard Nathan, said the faithful celebrating the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah "said their prayers and then left as quickly as possible".

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin early Sunday summoned his services for a security meeting "to protect our Jewish fellow citizens from any threat", he said on X, formerly Twitter.

Darmanin had earlier ordered security forced to "immediately step up vigilance, security and protection of Jewish community sites in France".

He called for use of soldiers from France's Operation Sentinelle, a special force deployed across the country since the 2015 terror attacks.

The conflict quickly made its way into French politics with Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne condemning remarks by far-left politician Jean-Luc Melenchon and his LFI party who said that the Hamas attack "comes in the context of an intensifying Israeli occupation policy".

Borne called the remark "a revolting ambiguity" and said the "anti-Zionism" of LFI party "could also be a way to hide their anti-Semitism".

Jerome Guedj, a deputy for the Socialist party which is in a fragile alliance with LFI, said the question of remaining was "now on the table".