French police detained a Palestinian man from Gaza on Friday after Rabbi Elie Lemmel was struck with a chair in the Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine, marking the second assault against the
rabbi in a single week and intensifying concerns over rising antisemitism in France.
Lemmel, a prominent rabbi with a significant social media following, was sitting at a café when he was hit on the head. Just days earlier, he reported being punched in the stomach by an unknown assailant in Deauville, Normandy. In a post online, Lemmel described being struck and insulted in a language he didn’t recognize.
“Until now, I had never been physically attacked,” Lemmel told Reuters. “But with my beard and kippah, I sadly suspected that might be why. It’s such a shame.”
France is home to Europe’s largest Jewish population—over 440,000 people. In 2024, the country recorded 1,570 antisemitic incidents, more than half of all religion-based hate crimes, according to the Interior Ministry.
The assault drew condemnation from French leaders. “This act disgusts us. I want to express our solidarity with him,” Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, whose father was Jewish, posted on X. “Antisemitism, like all hatred, is a deadly poison for our society. We will always fight it.”
Authorities said the suspect, a 28-year-old man born in Rafah in the Gaza Strip, was found with German-language documents and is undergoing psychiatric evaluation. He is being held at a local police station. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin stated the man “had no business being in France.”
It remains unclear whether the attacker made any statements during the incident.
The attack on Lemmel comes amid a global spike in antisemitic acts, many tied to pro-Palestinian demonstrations. Some observers in France linked the attack to this growing trend.
“Attacking a rabbi is targeting the most visible symbol of Jewish identity,” tweeted Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF). “Let’s be clear: nothing—not even solidarity with Palestinians—can justify attacking a rabbi. Today, hatred of Israel has become fuel for hatred of Jews.”
This incident follows a similar assault in March, when the chief rabbi of Orléans was physically attacked and verbally abused while walking with his young son on Shabbat. Earlier this week, several Jewish sites in Paris were defaced with green paint—an act widely denounced as antisemitic by Jewish organizations, watchdog groups, and officials. Photo by Quinn Dombrowski from Berkeley, USA, Wikimedia commons.