A synagogue in the town of Verdun near France’s eastern border was vandalized over the weekend, the European Jewish Press reports.
Worshippers discovered swastikas and white supremacist slogans scrawled on the house of prayer, including the phrase “white power”. Similar graffiti was also found on the house of a local rabbi.
This is the second such incident in as many months.
Francis Kalifat, the President of the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (Crif), condemned the vandalism on Twitter.
“The vandalism of a place of worship is unacceptable. I strongly condemn the anti-Semitic tags on the Verdun synagogue.”
Unlike much of the anti-Semitism plaguing Parisian Jews, this incident appears to be the work of the far-right, rather than Islamic radicals.
The leader of the Jewish community in Verdun, Jean-Claude Levy, says the repeated acts of vandalism call for greater security at Jewish institutions.
“It’s the police who informed me,” recalled Levy. “I went there and saw swastikas on the wall of the synagogue as well as the inscription ‘white power’.”
“The only solution we have is to secure the place. We will do everything to protect it. I’ll contact the Jewish Central Consistory of France.”
