French president condemns antisemitism after attack on Orleans' chief rabbi

In this file photo, French President Emmanuel Macron waits prior to a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron condemned Sunday the “poison of antisemitism” following a shocking attack on the chief rabbi of the central city of Orleans. French authorities are treating the incident as an antisemitic hate crime.

Rabbi Arié Engelberg was assaulted Saturday evening while walking in the city center with his young son. Local media reported that the suspect hurled antisemitic insults at the rabbi before physically attacking him.

“The attack on Rabbi Arié Engelberg in Orléans shocks us all. I offer him, his son, and all our fellow citizens of the Jewish faith my full support and that of the nation … We will not give in to silence or inaction,” Macron wrote in a post on X.

The suspect was arrested shortly after the assault and transferred to a psychiatric facility, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin confirmed. “I condemn with the greatest firmness the antisemitic attack of the Chief Rabbi of Orléans,” he posted on X. “He has all my support. The suspect was arrested and placed in a psychiatric facility.”

Darmanin later added: “France cannot allow itself to become a stage for foreign tensions that fuel violence and antisemitism.”

“No, anti-Semitism is not ‘residual,’” said Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF), reacting on X. “Those who minimize, relativize, or justify hatred of Jews by a conflict 4,000 km away bear an immense responsibility.”

The rabbi was not seriously injured but was left shaken, local media reported. Orleans' mayor, Serge Grouard, condemned the “heinous and intolerable act,” describing it as “a serious attack on the values of our Republic.”

France is home to Western Europe’s largest Jewish population, with an estimated 500,000 Jews—approximately one per cent of the national population. It is the third-largest Jewish community in the world, after Israel and the United States. That prominence has made France a frequent flashpoint for rising antisemitism, particularly during moments of heightened international conflict.

In recent years, antisemitic incidents have surged, with a sharp increase reported in 2023 after the Oct.7 Hamas attacks in Israel. These include physical assaults, threats, vandalism, and harassment, prompting alarm among Jewish communities and leaders.

According to figures released Sunday by the French Interior Ministry, 1,570 antisemitic acts were recorded in 2024, representing 62 per cent of all religiously motivated hate crimes in the country. While that marks a six per cent decrease from the previous year, the ministry noted that 65 per cent of those acts targeted individuals directly — unlike anti-religious incidents against other faiths, which tend to involve property. Physical or personal assaults were up three per cent year over year.

Thomas Adamson, The Associated Press