Protests are often said to “turn nasty,” but this one started nasty. Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched in Paris on July 13, chanting slogans like “Death to the Jews!” “Hitler was right,” and “Jihad! Jihad! Jihad!” Some received enthusiastic cheers as they carried a replica of a Palestinian missile that crashed into an Israeli nursery.

This was the “peaceful” part of the demonstration against Israel’s self-defense in Gaza.

Later in the evening, things turned nastier as a mob left the main demonstration to attack the Don Isaac Abravanel Synagogue. Around 150 people were inside the synagogue, holding a memorial ceremony for three Israeli teenagers recently murdered.

It was “like it was an intifada,” one of the people inside the building told Israel’s Channel 2 news. The protesters attacked the building with stones and bricks.

“They were determined to enter and the police did not have enough forces,” said French Jewish journalist Alain Azria. Only five policemen stood outside.

The Protection Service of the Jewish Community (spcj), the Jewish Defense League and Beitar—organizations created by Jews to protect Jews from anti-Semitic attacks—saved the day, according to Azria. “Thank God they were there because the protesters had murder on their minds and it took a while before police reinforcements arrived,” he said.

Another eyewitness said the protesters used bats and chairs from a nearby café to try to overpower the guards.

“The Palestinians had rocks, glass, axes, knives …. [T]hey were armed and I made sure that no one would leave the synagogue, in order to protect the lives of our people,” local Jewish community leader Serge Ben Haim told idf radio.

Ben Haim said the attack was a watershed moment. “What existed in the past can no longer continue,” he said. “We could have had something like Kristallnacht.”

“We skirted a true catastrophe yesterday,” Ben Haim continued. “Today is not yesterday. We must analyze what happened—there are some very red lights going on lately.”

Ben Haim is right, the attack was the most dramatic of a series of attacks on Jews in France.

A second synagogue was also attacked during the protests.

Had the mob made it inside, it could well have become one of the worst attacks on Europe’s Jews since World War ii. Already Jews are leaving France in record numbers. After this attack, many more will be wondering if it’s safe to stay.

“In the processions of this event, I believe that 90 percent are Muslims and Arabs,” wrote French journalist Jonathan-Simon Sellem, who saw the protests.

As Sellem pointed out, there have been “200,000 deaths in Syria,” yet the protesters gathered in Paris to “denounce the 150 dead in Gaza.”

The mob was motivated by an irrational hatred of Jews. Such hatred has been getting worse across Europe. To see where this is leading, read our article “What 79 Million Europeans Think of Jews” from the latest print edition of the Trumpet magazine.