Brutal Antisemitic Attacks in France, Germany Highlight Growing Threat to Jewish Communities Across Europe

According to France’s Interior Ministry, more than 640 antisemitic incidents were recorded in the first six months of 2025.

By Ailin Vilches Arguello, The Algemeiner

Recent assaults in France and Germany highlight the ongoing threat of antisemitism facing Jewish communities throughout Europe.

On Saturday, a 67-year-old man wearing Orthodox Jewish clothing was physically attacked in Yerres, a suburb south of Paris.

While walking home from the mikveh, a Jewish ritual bath, the victim was brutally assaulted by an unknown man shouting antisemitic slurs, including, “Dirty Jew, I’m going to kill you.”

According to local media reports, the victim, identified as Gilles Cohen, was violently beaten as the assailant attempted to search his pockets for money and synagogue keys.

Grégoire Dulin, the local public prosecutor, confirmed the victim was released from the hospital and “has been given a 15-day total work incapacity order.”

Shortly after the attack, Cohen filed a police complaint, though authorities have yet to make any arrests.

“An investigation is underway on charges of attempted violent robbery resulting in total incapacity to work of more than eight days, committed on religious grounds, and for death threats on religious grounds,” Dulin told AFP.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry condemned the “shocking antisemitic attack,” wishing the victim a “swift and full recovery” while calling on French authorities to ensure justice and the safety of the Jewish community.

“Cohen was brutally assaulted, struck in the face several times, and called a ‘dirty Jew.’ This is an extremely serious act that reflects the alarming rise of antisemitism in France,” the statement read.

Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF) — the main representative body of French Jews — also condemned the attack, describing it as the latest in a string of antisemitic assaults on rabbis in Orléans, Deauville, Neuilly, and Levallois in recent months.

“How long will this repeated hatred be tolerated?” Arfi wrote in a post on X.

“No one will uproot the Jews from France. But it is high time to uproot the antisemitism that is festering in society, using a conflict [1,800 miles] away as a pretext,” he continued, referring to the war in Gaza.

Since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, France has seen a sharp rise in anti-Jewish hate crimes and anti-Israel sentiment.

In an increasingly hostile climate, the local Jewish community has faced both violent assaults and attacks on schools and synagogues.

According to France’s Interior Ministry, more than 640 antisemitic incidents were recorded in the first six months of 2025 — a 27.5 percent decrease from the same period in 2024 but a 112.5 percent increase compared with the first half of 2023.

In a separate incident in Germany, a 24-year-old Jewish man was brutally assaulted in the central city of Erfurt when another man saw he was wearing a Star of David necklace.

On Friday, the victim was physically attacked on a tram after an unknown individual spotted his necklace, attempting to drag him off, kicking him repeatedly, and threatening him before fleeing the scene.

Local police have launched an investigation and are reviewing tram footage, but no suspects have been arrested yet.

A police spokesperson told German newspaper Bild that the incident is being treated as a “politically motivated crime.”

Like several other countries, particularly in Europe, Germany has also seen a surge in antisemitic attacks targeting the local Jewish community.

According to a police report, 1,047 antisemitic crimes were recorded nationwide between January and March this year, including 27 violent assaults and 422 cases of incitement to hatred.