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Hate crimes targeting Jews in France have surged in 2018

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe reveals that the number of documented hate crimes against Jews in the first nine months of 2018 has increased by more than 69 percent.

French Israelis light memorial candles as they gather at Paris Square in Jerusalem in a demonstration against anti-Semitism in France following the murder of Mireille Knoll, an 85-year-old Jewish woman in Paris, March 28, 2018. Photo by Hadas Parush/Flash90.
French Israelis light memorial candles as they gather at Paris Square in Jerusalem in a demonstration against anti-Semitism in France following the murder of Mireille Knoll, an 85-year-old Jewish woman in Paris, March 28, 2018. Photo by Hadas Parush/Flash90.

French Jews are facing a massive uptick in anti-Semitic attacks, with French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe revealing that the number of documented hate crimes targeting Jews increased by more than 69 percent in the first nine months of 2018.

The figures were published by Philippe on Facebook on Thursday, the same day he commemorated the Kristallnacht pogroms of 1938.

“Every assault perpetrated against one of our fellow citizens because they are Jewish resonates like a new Kristallnacht,” he wrote.

The CRIF umbrella group of French Jewish communities replied that the “most violent incidents … reflect the perseverance of anti-Semitism and its development into a daily occurrence.”

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