Dozens of blue Stars of David are painted at night on buildings in various parts of Paris and the surrounding suburbs.
The French capital has been rocked by a series of anti-Semitic incidents in recent days, amid communal tensions over the Israel-Gaza conflict.
In the 14th arrondissement of Paris, approximately sixty blue stars were found graffitied on various buildings during the night.
More stars were found in the northern suburb of Saint-Ouen, defaced on a resident’s home, accompanied by inscriptions such as “Palestine will triumph”, amid tensions over the ongoing war between Israel and Gaza in the Middle East.
Some online suggested the buildings belonged to Jewish residents, and others said the stars were a chilling echo of Nazi Germany and World War II.
Dozens of blue Stars of David (pictured) have been found painted on buildings in various parts of Paris and the surrounding suburbs at night
Local mayor Karim Bouamrane called for those behind the “anti-Semitic and racist” graffiti to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
The Paris prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into the damage to property aggravated by the circumstance of origin, race, ethnicity or religion, according to French media outlet BFMTV.
Emmanuel Grégoire, the deputy of the mayor of Paris, assured residents that the stars would be removed and an investigation would be launched to find the perpetrators.
‘Anti-Semitism remains deadly. We will never give up the fight,” he said.
Carine Petit, mayor of the 14th arrondissement, denounced the “anti-Semitic and racist” tags in a press release.
“This marker is reminiscent of the trials of the 1930s and World War II that led to the extermination of millions of Jews,” she said.
‘Together with the municipal team, I strongly condemn these anti-Semitic and racist acts.’
David Belliard, another local official, said the spray-painted stenciled stars serve as “reminders of the dark hours of our history.”
The Union of Jewish Students of France agreed, saying they were designed to reflect the way Jews were forced to wear the stars by the Nazi regime.
“This marking is reminiscent of the trials of the 1930s and the Second World War that led to the extermination of millions of Jews,” chairman Samuel Lejoyeux told the AFP news agency. “The people who did this clearly wanted to instill fear,” he added.
Hundreds of thousands of Jews were deported from France to Nazi concentration camps during World War II.
Of the 340,000 Jews living in European or continental France in 1940, more than 75,000 were deported and about 72,500 murdered.
The mayor of Aubervilliers, Karine Franclet, condemned the graffiti as being “in total contradiction to the fundamental values we cherish, including tolerance, equality and mutual respect, especially in the current context.”
The town hall of Saint-Ouen has filed a complaint with the public prosecutor’s office.
In the 14th arrondissement of Paris, approximately sixty blue stars were found graffitied on various buildings during the night. Pictured: A woman walks past a building marked with stars
The Paris prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into property damage aggravated by the circumstance of origin, race, ethnicity or religion, French media reported.
French President Emmanuel Macron recently called for unity over the ongoing war in the Middle East, as France is home to Western Europe’s largest Muslim and Jewish communities.
France has banned a number of pro-Palestinian rallies and fired tear gas and water cannons at those expressing support for the deaths in Gaza.
A total of 819 anti-Semitic acts have been reported in France since the October 7 Hamas terror attack in Israel killed more than 1,400 people.
According to BFMTV, 414 arrests have been made so far.
News of the blue Stars of David came after the chairman of Israel’s Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem, mocked Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations for putting on a yellow Star of David patch during his address to the Security Council on Monday, saying that it ‘belittles it’. both the victims of the Holocaust and the State of Israel.’
“The yellow spot symbolizes the helplessness of the Jewish people when they were at the mercy of others,” Dayan wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
‘Today we have an independent state and a strong army. We are masters of our fate. Today we put the blue and white flag (of Israel) on our lapel, not a yellow patch.”
The Nazis forced Jews to wear yellow, six-pointed Star of David patches during the Holocaust so they could be easily identified.
Ambassador Gilad Erdan wore the patch during a council meeting on the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, where more than 8,500 people have been killed, according to the Hamas-led Health Ministry in Gaza.
Hundreds of thousands have been displaced and food and basic supplies have dwindled since Israel went to war against the area’s Hamas rulers.
Erdan told the Security Council that he would wear the patch, with the inscription “Never Again,” until the council condemned Hamas’ bloody invasion of southern Israel that started the war.
Also Tuesday, Paris police shot an unarmed woman wearing an Islamic veil at a station who “threatened to blow herself up while shouting Allahu Akbar.”
The victim, who has not been named, was hit by at least one bullet today at the height of rush hour at the Bibliothèque François-Miterrand metro station in Paris.
The Union of Jewish Students of France said the stars were designed to reflect the way Jews were forced to wear the stars by the Nazi regime
The French capital has been rocked by a series of anti-Semitic incidents in recent days, amid communal tensions over the Israel-Gaza conflict.
After passengers on a suburban train alerted police, officers managed to ‘isolate’ the woman at the station on the capital’s south bank, leading to a standoff.
The woman was shot about 50 minutes after armed police arrived at the station. Police say officers opened fire after she failed to respond to their warnings.
She was left in critical condition.
It was not immediately clear whether the incident was related to the war between Israel and Hamas.