Terrorist Attack On Synagogue In France

Several weeks ago, I traveled through the placid seaside town of La Grande Motte on my way to the city of Montpellier. Not long after I arrived back in the U.S., I learned of a Muslim terrorist attack on the synagogue at La Grande Motte, in which a policeman was hurt, hurled into the air from the blast. The terrorist remains at large. More on this antisemitic attack — one of so many in France these last few years — think only of the murders of Ilan Halimi, Sara Halimi, Holocaust survivor Mireille Knoll, Rabbi Jonathan Sandler, his sons Gabriel (3) and Aryeh (5), and Myriam Monsenego (8) — can be found here.

Two cars were set ablaze following an explosion next to a synagogue in France today in a ‘clear criminal attack’ on the Jewish place of worship.

Firefighters, police, and the gendermerie arrived at the scene near Beth Yaacov synagogue at around 8.40am local time on Saturday morning.

Emergency services discovered two doors as well as two cars set alight, with a policeman hurled to the ground by the explosion.

 The police officer was injured in the incident, which occurred in La Grande-Motte – a southern seaside resort close to Montpellier.

‘The alarm was raised at around 8.30am,’ said an investigating source. ‘There was at least one violent explosion, and flames touched the door of the synagogue.

Two cars were set alight near a a synagogue in France today in what has been described as a ‘clear criminal attack’ on the Jewish place of worship by officials.

Since the target was a synagogue — that is, an attack on Jews — then it is not only a “criminal” act, but more importantly, an act of “terrorism” aimed at French Jews. Why can’t the government level with the public and call it “an act of anti-Jewish terrorism”?

The suspect was arrested and appeared in court on Wednesday. He is a Muslim migrant from Algeria. “Under questioning, the suspect admitted staging the attack, and told investigators he acted to support the Palestinian cause and make Israeli authorities react, the statement said. He said he did not have any homicidal intent but wanted to scare people.” Also, “based on questioning by police and his social media posts, EHK appears to have become more radical in his religious beliefs in recent months, and told acquaintances that he wanted to go fight in Gaza, prosecutors said. He also ‘has for a long time nursed a hatred toward Jews, specifically focused on the situation in Palestine,’ the statement added.”

This was a criminal attack, yes, but more to the point, it was an attack by a Muslim terrorist, hoping to set a synagogue on fire in order to terrorize the Jews not just in La Grande Motte, but also in the city of Montpellier nearby. Yet when he spoke about the attack, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin just couldn’t bring himself to utter that truth. He has once again misinformed the French public, that needs to know the extent of Muslim terrorism.

The president himself ought to make this latest attack the subject of an address to the public. He should describe it properly:

“This attack on the synagogue at La Grande Motte was not just a crime. It was a terrorist attack on our fellow citizens, the Jews of France. This is only the latest in a series of such attacks on French Jewry, from the torture and murders of Ilan Halimi, Sara Halimi, and Mireille Knoll in Paris, to the killings of Rabbi Sandler and his two children, three-year-old Gabriel and six year old Aryeh, as well as eight-year-old Myiam Monsenego, outside a Jewish elementary school in Toulouse. And there are attacks, too, on synagogues that terrorists have tried to burn down, such as the attempt, using a Molotov cocktail, last May, and now this latest attempt, in La Grande Motte, with the setting alight of cars parked just outside the synagogue. This is not an attack just on our fellow citizens who are Jewish. It is an attack on all of us, on the French people, on the French state itself. And we will use the full force of that state to eradicate the menace, including deporting those imams who have been radicalizing their fellow Muslims and shutting down mosques where they have been preaching. This is a guerre à outrance. And we will win.”