Synagogue ‘terror’ attack suspect wears Palestinian flag around waist

An armed man with a Palestinian flag wrapped around his waist set fire to a synagogue in France in what Emmanuel Macron branded a “terrorist attack”.

CCTV footage showed the suspect leaving the Beth Yaacov synagogue in the seaside resort of La Grande-Motte before an explosion rocked the building on Saturday morning.

Flames can be seen licking the side of the synagogue in the image, which shows the man wearing a keffiyeh with a gun stuffed in his trousers.

He was carrying two plastic bottles of clear liquid in the still, which was obtained by the Le Parisien newspaper.

Police on Saturday night arrested the suspect during an operation in which officers were fired upon and the suspect was wounded in the face.

Officers traced the alleged attacker to Nimes, which is about 28 miles (45km) north east of La Grande-Motte.

“Before the police could intervene, (the suspect) opened fire on the (police), which returned fire,” the anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office said.

Prosecutors said two other people were also taken into custody.

Mr Macron had earlier promised the French people that police would hunt down the suspect as security was tightened at Jewish sites across the country.

“We’re doing all we can to find the person who carried out this terrorist act and to protect places of worship,” the French president said.

“The fight against anti-Semitism is a constant battle,” he added.

A policeman was injured in a blast outside the synagogue at 8.30am local time and was rushed to hospital in nearby Montpellier.

His condition was described as “reassuring” later on Saturday after he was injured securing the perimeter after firefighters and police rushed to the scene.

Two cars, one of which contained at least one gas canister, were set on fire in the parking lot. Firefighters discovered additional fires at two entrances to the synagogue.

Five people, including the rabbi, who were present in the synagogue complex at the time of the attack were unharmed, the national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office said.

Prosecutors were investigating the attack as an attempted assassination linked to a terrorist group and destruction of property with dangerous means, and a crime planned by a terrorist group with an intent to cause harm.

“This is an anti-Semitic attack. Once more, our Jewish compatriots are targeted,” Gabriel Attal, prime minister, said on X, formerly Twitter. “We won’t give up. In the face of anti-Semitism, in the face of violence, we will never allow ourselves to be intimidated.”

France, which has the largest Jewish community in Western Europe, has seen a surge in anti-Semitic incidents following the Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct 7 and Israel’s retaliatory assault on Gaza.

Mr Darmanin said: “I want to assure our Jewish fellow citizens and the municipality of my full support and say that at the request of the president of the republic Emmanuel Macron, all means are being mobilised to find the perpetrator.”

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Mr Darmanin and Mr Attal travelled to the tourist hotspot, which attracts two million holidaymakers every year.

The explosion happened during Shabbat. The Jewish day of rest runs from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday and is when many often attend synagogue. There was no service at the time of the attack but Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions, said the timing “shows an intention to kill”.

Simone Rodan Benzaquen, the Europe director of the American Jewish Committee, said that an explosion of anti-Semitic violence and hate had been “unleashed” since Oct 7 by pro-Palestinian politicians on the French hard-Left.

“France is the country in Europe that has had the most anti-Semitic murders since Oct 7,” she said, “It is not the first time something like this has happened and it certainly won’t be the last.”

Marine Le Pen, the leader of the hard-Right National Rally, the main opposition, said: “Everything must be done to protect our compatriots of Jewish faith, who are targeted every day in France.”

Hussein Bourgi, a senator for the Herault region, offered “solidarity” to the Jewish community in La Grande-Motte.

Francois-Xavier Lauch, the prefect of the Herault region, said: “I denounce in the strongest terms the events that took place this morning at the synagogue in La Grande-Motte. I have asked the police and gendarmes to strengthen the security of Jewish interests in the department.”

According to government figures, 366 anti-Semitic acts were recorded between January and March this year, marking a 300 per cent increase compared to the same period the year before.

Earlier this year, French police shot dead an armed man who set fire to a synagogue in the city of Rouen, Normandy.