Macron condemns anti-Semitism after rape of Jewish girl

French President Emmanuel Macron has said that schools in France are threatened by the “scourge of anti-Semitism” after a 12-year-old Jewish girl was raped in what police believe was a hate crime.

According to French media reports, the girl told police that she was with a friend in a park in Courbevoie, northwest of Paris, last Saturday when three boys – two aged 13 and one aged 12 – approached her. She knew at least one of them.

The victim said the boys dragged her to a remote location where they shouted anti-Semitic slurs and raped her.

The boys were arrested on Monday and two of them were charged with gang rape, anti-Semitic insults and violence, and death threats.

French media also reported that one of the attackers threatened to kill the girl if she went to the police.

In response to the attack, people took to the streets on Wednesday to protest against anti-Semitism, carrying banners including one that read: “It could have been your sister.”

Mr Macron spoke about the Courbevoie attack on Wednesday during a Council of Ministers meeting with members of his government.

He called on Education Minister Nicole Belloubet to organize a dialogue on racism and anti-Semitism in schools in the coming days in order to prevent “hate speech with serious consequences” from “seeping into” classrooms.

Ms Belloubet later wrote on X: “The horror knows no bounds… Rape, anti-Semitism: every part of this crime is repulsive.”

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal described the attack as “absolutely despicable, intolerable and unspeakable”.

“Unfortunately, anti-Semitism has been on the rise again in our country since October 7,” he told TF1.

The Chief Rabbi of France, Haim Korsia, said he was “horrified”.

“The judiciary must severely punish the perpetrators of this despicable act. No one can be acquitted of this unprecedented wave of anti-Semitic activity,” Mr Korsia wrote on X.

A January 2024 report by the Council of Jewish Institutions in France (CRIF) states that there was a 284% increase in anti-Semitic acts in France between 2022 and 2023.

It also said that last year, nearly 13 percent of these acts took place in schools. A significant increase was reported after the October 7 Hamas attacks on communities in Israel.

France is in the midst of a heated election campaign after President Macron called early parliamentary elections two weeks ago and politicians from all camps were quick to voice their opinions.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the left-wing radical party “La France Inségénable” (LFI), condemned “anti-Semitic racism”.

Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right Rassemblement National (RN), urged voters to keep in mind the “stigmatization of Jews by the extreme left” when they go to the polls later this month.

Her protégé Jordan Bardella said that if elected, he would “fight the anti-Semitism that has plagued France since October 7.”