French hate crimes spiked following Gaza war

Racist, xenophobic and religion-based hate crimes surged 32 percent in France last year, government figures showed on Wednesday, with a spike following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza on Oct. 7.

Police recorded 8,500 crimes and misdemeanors “committed because of the ethnicity, nationality, supposed race or religion” of the victim across 2023, the Interior Ministry’s statistics service said.

The statisticians highlighted “a marked acceleration toward the end of the year.

There were twice as many crimes and misdemeanors recorded in October-December as in the same period in 2022.

“The increase can be seen from October, with a level of offenses holding at the same high level in November before falling back in December,” the report said.

France’s Representative Council of Jewish Institutions had said in January that it recorded four times as many anti-Semitic acts last year as in 2022, at 1,676, with an “explosion” in numbers after Oct. 7.

Men, people aged 25 to 54, and citizens of African countries were especially targeted, it added. But only 4 percent of the victims filed a criminal complaint.