French Jews Warned as Synagogues Canceled Prayers Amid Protests

For some French Jews, Saturday’s unrest carried a disturbing message: keep visible signs of Jewish identity out of sight and avoid congregating outside synagogues.

A member of the community told News Media that several congregations went so far as to call off afternoon Sabbath prayers as protests across France turned violent.

Samuel Arrouas, a French Jewish community member who splits his time between Paris and Israel, said synagogues sent precautionary emails before Saturday’s demonstrations. “Lots of synagogues sent out emails to their people saying, ‘We’re canceling Mincha on Shabbat afternoon. Please don’t go out. It’s going to be dangerous,’” he told News Media.

Mincha is the Jewish afternoon prayer service. Arrouas, who had returned to Israel before the protests, said the warnings left him stunned. “I’m 40 years old. First time I heard this,” he said.

The guidance also urged Jews to avoid visibly wearing kippahs, the traditional skullcaps, or tzitzit, ritual fringes worn by observant Jewish men. Worshipers were told not to remain outside synagogues after services. “You go to prayers, and you immediately leave,” Arrouas said.

Before departing France, Arrouas said he saw masked demonstrators carrying Palestinian flags near Paris Dauphine University.

“It’s very scary,” he said. “When you’re Jewish and you pass in front of such a scene, the only thing you want to do is just get away.”

The unease surfaced as roughly 550,000 people took part in demonstrations across France on Oct. 17 over surging fuel prices, the rising cost of living and deteriorating public services, including schools. In Paris, Marseille and other cities, masked rioters clashed with police, looted shops and torched vehicles and buildings. France’s Interior Ministry said about 2,400 people were arrested.

President Emmanuel Macron appealed for “calm and order” in a national address and warned against further escalation. “We all feel anger and shame,” he said, separating protesters’ “legitimate demands” from those “who destroyed, smashed and looted.” Macron said “nothing justifies” the violence and promised that those responsible would be held accountable. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez submitted his resignation, but Macron rejected it.

Shannon Seban, France-based executive director for European affairs at the Combat Antisemitism Movement, said the display of Palestinian flags at protests focused on domestic grievances had deepened concerns among French Jews.

“We have seen Palestinian flags at demonstrations that were supposed to be about education and social demands. What does Gaza have to do with any of this?” Seban told News Media.

“This has nothing to do with legitimate student demands anymore. We are talking about organized violence, about people who are not coming to demonstrate but to destroy, to attack our police officers and to challenge the authority of the Republic,” she said.

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Seban also connected the unrest to calls to “globalize the intifada” and to antisemitic conspiracy theories spreading across the internet.

The Combat Antisemitism Movement recorded 1,384 antisemitic posts over a two-day period, Seban said, including conspiracy theories claiming that Jews and Israel were responsible for the unrest.

“The right to protest is fundamental in a democracy. But the right to protest is not the right to destroy,” she said. “France and Europe must wake up. Before it is too late.”

In Marseille, Bruno Benjamin, president of the Marseille-Provence branch of CRIF, the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions, described widespread damage to local businesses and growing anxiety within the Jewish community.

“Several hundred shops were ransacked, vandalized and looted. The scale of the devastation is simply unbearable,” Benjamin told News Media.

He said shopkeepers had seen years of work destroyed within hours, leaving some facing layoffs or temporary unemployment for employees.

“This is not just an attack on businesses. It is an attack on people’s livelihood, their dignity, and the very fabric of our society,” he said.

France’s Jewish community security organization, SPCJ, cautioned against assuming that Jewish-owned property was targeted because of religion. In a statement provided to News Media, SPCJ said a break-in and vandalism at a synagogue in Paris’s 19th arrondissement initially suggested burglary, although the motive remained undetermined. Jewish-owned businesses were among those damaged in Marseille, it said, without evidence they had been singled out for being Jewish.

The U.S. State Department’s existing Level 2 travel advisory urges Americans to exercise increased caution in France because of terrorism and unrest. News Media reached out to the French Embassy in Washington, D.C., for comment on the unrest and the safety of the Jewish community.

Benjamin said rising insecurity and antisemitism had left some French Jews considering whether to leave the country, while others remained determined to stay.

“We must relentlessly combat antisemitism, defend their right to live in safety and dignity and ensure that no Jew in France should ever have to choose between their personal security and their love for their country,” he said. “Because being Jewish in France should never mean having to live in fear.”

For Seban of the Combat Antisemitism Movement, it’s evident where the blame lies: “Let me be very clear: La France Insoumise and the far left bear a political responsibility for fueling this climate of violence and confrontation.”