French prosecutors have charged a 19-year-old man and a minor in the Paris region with plotting a terrorist attack on Jewish targets, Agence France-Presse reported on Friday.
The man was charged with “terrorist conspiracy” to commit attacks and the “acquisition and possession of arms for a terrorist enterprise,” according to a judicial source cited in the report.
The youth was detained on June 13, the source said.
The pair connected online and were planning “a violent action notably aimed at Jewish targets,” added the source.
The development comes after hundreds protested in the French capital on Wednesday following the antisemitic rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl. The rally was organized by Collectif Nous Vivrons (“We Will Live Collective”), which was founded following Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre in Israel and the ensuing wave of antisemitism in Europe.
The Jun. 15 rape in a Paris suburb has drawn condemnation from across France’s political spectrum amid a heated campaign ahead of snap parliamentary elections later this month.
Three minors were arrested for their part in the assault, during which they allegedly forced the girl to perform vaginal, anal and oral sex, called her a “dirty Jew” and threatened to kill her if she told anyone.
France is home to the largest Muslim population in Europe and has seen a surge in antisemitic acts since Oct. 7. Antisemitic acts have tripled in the first months of 2024 compared to the same period last year, France 24 reported, citing official numbers.
