France Bolsters Security at Jewish Schools, Synagogues Amid Mideast Conflict as Passover Approaches

France will bolster security at Jewish schools and synagogues ahead of Passover, in part due to the ongoing war in Gaza and the escalating conflict between Iran and Israel, according to French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin.

“As Passover approaches and given the current international situation, I have told local officials to significantly step up security at places visited by our Jewish compatriots, especially with regards to synagogues and Jewish schools,” he wrote on the X/Twitter social media platform.

The Jewish holiday of Passover, which celebrates the Biblical story of the Israelites’ escape from slavery in Egypt, will begin next Monday evening and end the following Tuesday.

Darmanin’s tweet came amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Hamas terrorist group in Gaza and one day after Iran launched an unprecedented direct attack against the Israeli homeland.

The move to step up security at Jewish institutions also came amid an explosion of antisemitism in France in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel. Antisemitic outrages rose by over 1,000 percent in the final three months of 2023 compared with the previous year, with over 1,200 incidents reported — greater than the total number of incidents in France for the previous three years combined.

Amid a historic surge in hate crimes against Jews, Darmanin has announced several steps to combat pro-Hamas forces in the country.

Following the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7, the interior minister attempted to impose an outright ban on pro-Palestinian demonstrations, citing fears over public disorder. That order was subsequently modified by the Council of State, which ruled that demonstrations could be banned by the police on a case-by-case basis.

Last month, Darmanin announced the dissolution of two militantly anti-Zionist organizations advocating the destruction of Israel as a democratic Jewish state and its replacement by a unitary state of Palestine.

In an address to the Jewish community days later, French President Emmanuel Macron pledged his commitment to countering hatred of Jews.

“Every time the slightest trace of antisemitism reappears, we will be as uncompromising as we have always been,” Macron said.

Macron was one of the leading voices in condemning a group of pro-Hamas students who blockaded a lecture hall at one of France’s most prestigious academic institutions last month, preventing Jewish students from accessing the space.