Authorities in France have increased security at Jewish houses of worship across the country in the wake of an explosion outside a synagogue that President Emmanuel Macron denounced as a “terrorist act.”
A police officer was hurt when two parked cars outside the Beth Yaacov synagogue in La Grande-Motte, near Montpellier, were set on fire and exploded Saturday morning.
Two of the synagogue’s doors were damaged in the blast, France24 reported.
It was not immediately clear how many people were inside the synagogue at the time of the fire. No other injuries were reported.
A gas canister was found in one of the cars, the outlet noted.
Multiple news organizations in France have obtained what they said was a CCTV image of a man in a keffiyeh, with a Palestinian flag tied around his waist, leaving the scene.
“Our thoughts are with the congregation at the Grande-Motte synagogue and all the Jews in our country,” Macron wrote on X.“Everything is being done to find the perpetrator of this terrorist act and to protect places of worship. The fight against anti-Semitism is a constant battle, that of a united nation.”
French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin vowed that “all means are being mobilized” to find the perpetrator.
Police presence outside Jewish sites throughout France was increased in the wake of the blast, he added.
The terrifying blast took place during Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest and worship that lasts from sunset Friday through sunset on Saturday.
There was no religious service going on at the time of the fire, local police said.
Darmanin is expected to travel to La Grande-Motte on Saturday along with acting Prime Minister Gabriel Attal.
La Grande-Motte has about 8,500 permanent residents, but the population swells in the summer months as tourists flock to the coastal area.
France and other European countries are on high-alert for terror activity due to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
There were 887 anti-Semitic acts in France in the first half of 2024 alone, Darmanin said earlier this month — nearly three times as many as in the same period in 2023.
France is home to the largest Jewish population outside Israel and the United States, as well as the largest Muslim community in the European Union, according to France24.
The La Grande-Motte attack was “an attempt to kill Jews,” the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France (CRIF) said, according to the Agence France-Presse.
With Post wires
