- While investigations are ongoing in Paris and Marseille, there is no evidence French rioters on the edges of the Oct. 17 nationwide protests targeted a synagogue in Paris or attacked Jewish-owned businesses in Marseille while sparing those owned by Muslims.
- The rumor that a synagogue was attacked spread after IsraJ — a French-language Jewish news outlet — reported a Jewish space for prayer was found ransacked the morning of Oct. 18, the day after the protests.
- The break-in at the synagogue, Ohaley Yaakov, was more likely to be a burglary unrelated to the protests, according to the SPCJ, a Jewish nonprofit group that offers security services to many synagogues, Jewish schools and community centers and compiles data on antisemitic attacks. IsraJ reported that the space was temporary and had no visible Jewish signs from the outside. In addition, synagogues closer to the center of Paris were spared, suggesting there was no coordinated effort to target Jewish spaces.
- The claim that looters targeted Jewish businesses in Marseille came from a television interview with French journalist Paul Amar, who made this claim on the conservative news and opinion channel CNews, without citing sources or showing any proof to back his assertion.
- According to Marseille police, the looting in Marseille had “no connection” to anti-Jewish hatred. “Businesses were targeted without any particular distinction,” a police spokesperson told Snopes in an email. Bruno Benjamin, president of the Marseille-area branch of the CRIF — a Jewish umbrella organization representing Jewish institutions in France — said on a French Jewish radio station on Oct. 19 that “all businesses were affected — whether Jewish, non-Jewish, or Muslim.”
- Snopes will update this report if and when additional information surfaces. We have reached out to the leaders of Ohaley Yaacov, the synagogue in Paris, as well as the police headquarters in Paris and are waiting for responses.
After protests across France on Oct. 17 devolved into riots and looting, posts multiplied on social media claiming the rioters had targeted a synagogue in Paris and Jewish-owned businesses in Marseille, but spared Muslim businesses.
The claims spread on Facebook and Reddit. On X, one post alleged the rioters “took advantage of the protests to carry out a pogrom” — a coordinated mob attack on Jewish people and spaces (archived):
Meanwhile, several Snopes readers emailed, asking us to verify these claims.
The rumor that looters attacked synagogue Ohaley Yaakov in Paris spread after a Jewish space for prayer was found ransacked the morning of Oct. 18, the day after the protests, according to IsraJ, a French-language Jewish news outlet.
The story that Marseille rioters targeted Jewish businesses while sparing Muslim-owned businesses came from a television interview with French journalist Paul Amar, who made this claim on the conservative news and opinion channel CNews, without citing his sources.
“They came prepared,” Amar said, without proof. “They had the addresses of town halls. They had addresses of Jewish shop owners. In a street in Marseille, I heard this morning, all businesses owned by Jews were set on fire. Businesses run by Muslims were not.”
The New York Post, a conservative tabloid in the U.S., relayed both claims.
There was no evidence the break-in at the synagogue in Paris had an antisemitic motive or a link to the protests, according to a Jewish nonprofit organization that offers security services to synagogues and other Jewish institutions. Instead, it was more likely to be a robbery.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson at police headquarters in Marseille told Snopes in an email that the looting there had “no connection” to anti-Jewish sentiment. Further, a leading representative of the Jewish community in the region of Marseille said Jewish and non-Jewish businesses — including Muslim businesses — had been attacked without distinction.
However, because investigations are ongoing, we have left the claim unrated.
We reached out to Ohaley Yaakov and to police headquarters in Paris for more details. We’ll update this story should they respond.
Synagogue ransacked in Paris
On the morning of Oct. 18, members of the synagogue Ohaley Yaakov found their space had been ransacked, according to IsraJ. The article said that the space was a temporary one during renovations at the main building, and had no visible Jewish signs from the outside.
While the faithful found prayer books, tefillin (leather straps Jewish men wrap around their arms and hands for prayer) and the content of cubbies and cupboards on the floor, the story said Torah scrolls had been left untouched and the vandals had not taken anything.
The article quoted one member of the synagogue’s board, identified only as Raphaël, as saying he did not think it had a a link to the protests as the congregation had been able to hold Shabbat services unbothered on the day of the protests.
Raphaël also told IsraJ that while he could not rule out an antisemitic motive, he thought the intruders had searched for money.
The break-in at Ohaley Yaakov was more likely to be a burglary unrelated to the protests, according to the SPCJ — a Jewish nonprofit organization that offers security services to many synagogues, Jewish schools and community centers and compiles data on antisemitic attacks. Though the motive behind the attack had yet to be confirmed, the SPCJ said there had been no antisemitic graffiti or any other sign indicating the break-in was based on anti-Jewish sentiment.
Notably, more-prominent synagogues nearer the center of Paris, where most of the protests and the looting took place, had been spared, suggesting there had been no coordinated effort to target Jewish spaces.
Businesses looted in Marseille
Meanwhile, the looting in Marseille had “no connection” to anti-Jewish hatred, according to police headquarters in Marseille.
“The looting that has taken place so far has no connection to religious beliefs,” a spokesperson for Marseille police told Snopes in an email. “Businesses were targeted without any particular distinction.”
Bruno Benjamin, president of the Marseille-area branch of the CRIF — a Jewish umbrella organization that represents Jewish institutions in France — said in an interview with a French Jewish radio station on Oct. 19 that there was “no evidence” Jewish-owned businesses had been specifically targeted (emphasis ours):
I know there’s a rumor going around that Muslim-owned businesses were spared and so on.
In any case, based on all the information we have right now, when we put it all together, we see that all businesses were targeted, whether they were Jewish, non-Jewish, or Muslim. In the end, they didn’t make any distinctions, you know — they’re looters. They break into a store and take whatever they can get their hands on.
Of course, as everyone knows, there are a lot of Jewish shop owners in Marseille, so they were affected too, but I don’t think we can make any distinctions at this point. In any case, we don’t have any evidence—we don’t have a body of evidence that would allow us to confirm that.
Snopes has covered claims of antisemitism in Europe, including the rumor that Spanish police removed Jewish children from a plane at the Valencia airport.
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