Synagogue ransacked, Jewish businesses hit during French riots: Cant be a coincidence

A synagogue was vandalized and Jewish businesses looted and ransacked during the latest wave of riots in France over the weekend, with Jewish leaders calling on officials to declare a state of emergency.Looters struck at several French cities on Saturday, including Paris, where a synagogue in the capital’s 19th arrondissement suffered damage, according to footage released by the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) group.“When chaos and violence take over the streets, synagogues are the first to suffer,” Sacha Roytman, CEO of CAM, said in a statement.

“The desecration of the synagogue in Paris is a clear warning sign: What begins against Jews never stops there.”The footage shows tables, chairs, prayer books and other items tossed around the interior offices at the temple in the aftermath of the looting.A member of the temple told reporters he doesn’t know why protesters would go after the synagogue, suggesting they were likely targeted for antisemitic reasons.

“It can’t be a coincidence that they chose to target a Jewish place of worship,” the congregant told IsraJ.“They must have thought that since they are Jewish, there must be money there.”In France’s second-largest city of Marseille, which boasts one of the largest Jewish populations of any city in Europe, rioters vandalized dozens of shops — stealing a range of products ranging from high-end Hermes items to slices of bread, according to local reports.Ariel Goldmann, of the Unified Jewish Social Fund (SPCJ) organization, confirmed that some of the shops hit by the vandals were owned by Jewish people.French journalist Paul Amar, who slammed some of the protesters for waving Palestinian flags during the riots, claimed Jewish-owned shops were directly targeted while Muslim-owned stores were allegedly spared.

There is no evidence that Jewish-owned stores were specifically targeted during the riots, Goldmann said, with the SPCJ working with local authorities to determine the full motives be...