French synagogue arsonist stabs officer, shot by police

French police shot dead a knife-wielding Algerian man who set fire to a synagogue and threatened police in the city of Rouen on Friday in the latest antisemitic attack, officials said.

“An armed man somehow climbed up the synagogue and threw an object, a sort of Molotov cocktail, into the main praying room,” said Rouen Mayor Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, adding that nobody else was harmed in the shocked city in the northwestern Normandy region.

Police found the man on the synagogue roof with an iron bar and kitchen knife, shooting him when he defied orders to stop.

France, like many countries across Europe, has seen a huge spike in anti-Jewish acts since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said the attacker’s bid for a residency permit had been recently rejected. He was otherwise not on the radar of police or intelligence services.

Mayer-Rossignol said “thoughts and full support to the Jewish Community of Rouen. Through this attack and this attempted burning of the synagogue of Rouen, it is not only the Jewish community that is affected: The entire town of Rouen is hurt and in shock.”

The mayor later held a town hall meeting attended by police, firefighters, and dozens of citizens who expressed support for the local Jewish community.

The Prefecture of Normandy and Seine-Maritime said it had confidence that the judicial system would establish the facts of the incident, and offered support to Jewish citizens.

“The state is and will be at their side for their security, that of their places of worship and to guarantee the exercise of their faith,” said the Prefecture. “In the face of hatred, the Republic stands tall.”

Darmanin praised law enforcement “for their responsiveness and courage.” The minister visited the site and attended the town hall on Friday to thank emergency services, and said that he would decorate the officer who neutralized the assailant and “who ensured respect for France and its values.”

'Antisemitic drama'

Central Consistory of France president Elie Korchia said on X that police prevented “a new antisemitic tragedy in our country.”

French Chief Rabbi Haïm Korsia also thanked the police as well as political leaders for their support.“I was able to speak at length with the president of the community and I will spend a Shabbat there very soon to assure the congregants of my full support,” Korsia wrote on social media.

 Rabbi Shmuel Lubecki said the Jewish community should remain prideful of their Jewish identity, which would make it impossible for antisemites to win.

France hosts the Olympic Summer Games in two months and is on the highest level of alert given a complex geopolitical backdrop in the Middle East and Europe’s eastern flank.

Prosecutor Frederic Teillet said a police officer followed correct procedure in opening fire after the attacker ran towards him brandishing the knife and ignoring a command to halt.

France has recorded 366 antisemitic acts in the first three months of 2024, three times as many as the same period last year.

“No one can deny this antisemitic wave," Teillet said. "No one can deny the fact that it is estimated that French Jews represent 1% of the French population, but that more than 60% of anti-religious acts are antisemitic acts.”