Police officer injured after two cars are lit on fire outside French synagogue in ‘terrorist’ act
Authorities in France have increased security at Jewish houses of worship across the country in the wake of an explosion outside a synagogue that President Emmanuel Macron denounced as⛄ a “terrorist act.”
A poli🔥ce officer was hurt when two parked cars outside the Beth Yaacov synagogue in La Grande-Motte, near Montpellier, were set on fire and exploded Saturday morning.
Two of the synagogue’s doors were damaged in the blast,&n🐻bsp;.
It was not immediate🌊ly clear how many people were inside the synagogue at the time of the fire. No other injuries were reported📖.
A gas canister was found🅺 in one of the cars, the outlet noted.
Multiple news organizations in France have obtained what they said was a f a man in a keffiyeh, with a Palestinian flag tied around his waist, leaving the sc﷽ene.
“Our thoughts are with the congregation at the Grande-Motte synagogue and all the Jews in our country,” .“Everything is being done to find the perpetrator of t🍃his terrorist act and to protect places ꦰof worship. The fight against anti-Semitism is a constant battle, that of a united nation.”
F﷽rench Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin vowed that “all means are being mobilized” to find the perpetrator.
Po𒈔lice presence outside Jewish sites throughout France was increased in the wake of the blast, he added.
The terrifying blast took plac𓄧e during Shabbat, the Jewis🍬h day of rest and worship that lasts from sunset Friday through sunset on Saturday.
Th✃ere was no religious service going on at the time of the fire, loc🌜al police said.
Darmanin is expectไed to travel to La Grande-Motte on Saturday along with acting Prime Minister Gabriel Attal.
La Grande-Mot⛦te has about 8,500 permanent residents, but the population swells in the summer months as tourists flock to the coastal area.
France and other European ꦡcountries are on high-alert for terror activity due to the ongoing Israel-Hamas w꧅ar.
There were 887 anti-Semitic acts in France in the first half of 2024 alone, Darmanin said earlier this month — nearly three times as many as in the same period in 2023.
France is home to the largest Jewish population outside Israel and the United States, as𝔉 well as the largest Muslim community in the European Union, according to France24.
The La Grande-Motte attack was “an attempt to kill Jews,” the Representative Council of Jewish Institutio🥀ns in France (CRIF) said, according to the Agenc♎e France-Presse.
With Post wires