“Teach your sons that hating France is a creed,” declared Mohamed Bachir El Ibrahimi, an Algerian Islamic scholar and resistance fighter, as quoted on the website Islamic News World.
His teachings practically foreshadowed the recent riots in France after French police killed a 17-year-old Algerian immigrant on June 27, an act caught on video that quickly circulated on social media. It caused Algerian-led riots soon joined by other immigrant groups.
Shops and stores faced looting, though Jewish sites experienced singular vandalism with the words “We are going to make you a Shoah [Holocaust]” at the Nanterre memorial outside Paris. Kosher restaurants have experienced looting; some were even set on fire. The mayor of Paris, Vincent Jeanbrun, was also attacked and his wife injured when rioters try to burn down their home.
It is truly horrifying to witness the Memorial to the Martyrs of the Deportation in Nanterre being vandalized.
This shameful act of disrespect for the memory of the victims of the Holocaust must be unequivocally condemned and those responsible held accountable. pic.twitter.com/B0HT3L9TiF
— European Jewish Congress (@eurojewcong) June 29, 2023
France 2023. Graffiti on a Holocaust memorial:
“We are going to make a Shoah” https://t.co/NtYeqaUUCW pic.twitter.com/Ks90ClBkL6
— Alex Hearn (@hearnimator) June 30, 2023
Numerous Islamist media figures have praised the violence. Ayat Oraby, a former Egyptian TV and MB affiliate, tweeted: “To where is France heading?? To hell, God’s willing! […] To date, burning of a large number of buildings ranging about 500 public buildings (with the best wishes for more).”
Oraby defended the violence in the streets, saying “France deserves what is happening and more because of its criminality against Muslims.”
« On va faire une shoah » ont-ils écrit sur le mémorial de la déportation à Nanterre pic.twitter.com/WCmAXoApQW
— Observatoire du Décolonialisme (@decolonialisme) June 29, 2023
Ahmed Mansour, an anchor on Al Jazeera, claimed that “France is officially turning into a police state.”
Sickening antisemitism out of France (Côtes-d’Armor)- a Holocaust memorial was vandalized with pro Hitler graffiti as well as “Death to Jews” and a swastika this past Saturday.
The memorial pays tribute to 55 people murdered by the Nazis at the site in 1944. pic.twitter.com/qxb7cx6tRP
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) July 18, 2023