World Jewish News

Anti-Semitic inscriptions found on storefronts and garage doors in Marseille

CRIF, the umbrella group of French Jewish organisations, expressed outrage after anti-Semitic inscriptions, such as ‘Jew’, were found on storefronts and garage doors in the center of the city of Marseille in southern France.

‘’We are shocked by these acts, the fact of writing the word "Jew" on storefronts recalls the darkest hours of history. We cannot tolerate such actions, either in form or in substance,’’ CRIF said.

''It is necessary to let the authors of these obnoxious tags know that their actions will not go unpunished,'' it said.

A complaint has been filed and a police investigation is underway. The President of CRIF in Marseille, Bruno Benjamin, said he was in close contact with the governmental body in charge of the fight against racism and anti-Semitism.

Last month, a plaque in memory of Ilan Halimi was vandalized and covered with anti-Semitic inscriptions, insults and obscenities. Halimi, a 23-year-old Jewish Parisian, was abducted and tortured during 24 days in February 2016 by a gang calling itself ‘’Barbarians’’ because he was Jewish, until he died of his wounds.​

EJP