By French police arrested a suspected terrorist on Saturday evening following a dramatic gunfight, culminating a day-long manhunt after an attack on a synagogue in the southern resort town of La Grande-Motte. The incident, which authorities are treating as an act of terrorism, has heightened concerns about rising anti-Semitism in France amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
The suspect, identified as a 33-year-old Algerian national, was apprehended at the top of a council estate tower block in the city of Nimes, approximately 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the site of the initial attack. French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin confirmed the arrest on social media platform X, praising the police force, particularly the RAID (Research, Assistance, Intervention, Deterrence) special forces, for their “great professionalism despite the gunfire.”
According to an investigating source who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing nature of the investigation, the suspect was “severely wounded” during the arrest operation and subsequently taken to a secure hospital facility. A local municipal police officer in Nimes sustained minor injuries when the suspect opened fire prior to his capture.
The events began around 8:30 a.m. on Saturday when the suspect allegedly caused an explosion in a parked car and set fire to the doors of the Beth Yaacov synagogue in La Grande-Motte. CCTV footage reportedly shows the man wearing a Palestinian flag around his waist during the attack, which French President Emmanuel Macron swiftly condemned as an “act of terrorism.”
Stephan Rossignol, Mayor of La Grande-Motte, confirmed that surveillance cameras had captured images of an unidentified man setting fire to cars outside the synagogue. Police sources indicated that the suspect may have been armed with a pistol.
The attack has sent shockwaves through France’s Jewish community. Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF), described the incident as “an attempt to kill Jews,” noting that a gas cylinder was detonated “in front of the synagogue of La Grande-Motte at the expected time of arrival of worshippers.”
This latest incident occurs against a backdrop of escalating anti-Semitic acts in France since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas conflict on October 7, 2023. According to an Interior Ministry spokesperson in Paris, anti-Semitic incidents in France have nearly tripled since the beginning of the conflict, with 887 incidents recorded during the first half of this year alone.
The attack and subsequent arrest have reignited discussions about security measures for Jewish institutions in France and the broader implications of the Israel-Hamas conflict on domestic tensions. Hussein Bourgi, a Socialist Senator in the Herault department where La Grande-Motte is located, expressed “full solidarity with the Jewish community of La Grande Motte.”
This incident follows a pattern of concerning events targeting Jewish communities in France. In May, an Algerian immigrant was fatally shot by police after throwing a Molotov cocktail through a synagogue window in Rouen, Normandy. Additionally, a Holocaust memorial in Paris was defaced with red handprints, apparently referencing the rising civilian death toll in Gaza and the West Bank.
French authorities have mobilized significant resources to combat the rise in anti-Semitic acts. The manhunt for the La Grande-Motte synagogue attacker involved approximately 200 police officers, culminating in the RAID special forces operation in Nimes around 11:30 p.m. on Saturday.
