Anti-Semitic attacks rocket 74 per cent in France as government warns ‘poison spreading’

The number of anti-Semitic acts in France rocketed 74 per cent last year as the interior minister warned the phenomenon was “spreading like a poison”.

Christophe Castaner issued the warning from a Paris suburb where vandals had sawn down a tree planted in memory of Ilan Halimi, a young French Jew tortured to death in 2006 in a barbaric act that appalled France. The 13th anniversary of his death was due to be commemorated on Wednesday and a new prize in his honour unveiled by the prime minister on Tuesday evening.

Announcing that acts of anti-Semitism had increased from 311 in 2017 to 541 last year, Mr Castaner said the phenomenon was “spreading like a poison, like a venom. It’s rotting minds, it’s killing”.

“By attacking… Ilan Halimi’s memory, it’s the Republic that’s being attacked,” he added, vowing that the government would take action. 

The vandalism follows a string of widely reported acts of anti-Semitism in recent months committed in France, home to the world’s largest Jewish population outside Israel and America.