Paris hate crimes spread 'like poison', memory of Simone Veil defaced

French authorities are investigating a series of anti-Jewish hate crimes in and around the capital, the Guardian reported. 

The crimes included defacing postboxes with the face of late French politician Simone Weil with swastikas.

“Shame on the despicable person that disfigured my tribute to Simeon Veil, Holocaust survivor,”  French street artist Christian Guemy tweeted on Monday along with pictures of the postboxes. He tweeted again on Wednesday after the art was restored. 

Simone Veil de retour, avec ses valeurs et sa grâce, plus forte que la barbarie des anonymes. pic.twitter.com/ov3ThhIEaf

— Christian Guémy C215 (@christianguemy) February 12, 2019

Other attacks included the defacing of a bagel bakery with the word 'Juden' [Jew in German] as well as toxic slurs against French President Emanuel Macron based on his previous employment at the Rothschild merchant bank. 

Paris, 2019. Le mot « Juden » inscrit sur la vitrine d’un restaurant #Bagelstein.L’antisémitisme le plus crasse dans les rues de la ville lumière.En 24h donc: incendie contre le domicile @RichardFerrand, attaque contre @AssembleeNat et actes antisémites.Ne rien céder, jamais. pic.twitter.com/TUR5TSMEYl

— Benjamin Griveaux (@BGriveaux) February 10, 2019

Tags antisémites jusqu'à la nausée en plein Paris ce WE. Quand la haine des Juifs se recoupe avec la haine de la Démocratie, le vocabulaire de la #fachosphere se retrouve sur les murs ! J'ai saisi le procureur de Paris et le Prefet de Police. @DILCRAH #Republique #democratie pic.twitter.com/DPqKVvY6X9

— Frédéric Potier (@FPotier_Dilcrah) February 11, 2019

A recent study found that roughly half the people involved in the gilets jaunes (yellow vests)  protests believe in a 'Zionist plot.'

The late Veil, who served as French Minister of Health and President of the European Parliament, was a Holocaust survivor and the fifth woman in history to be given a burial in the Pantheon. She passed away in 2017. 

A tree planted in memory of Ilan Halimi, the Jewish man who was kidnapped, tortured and killed in 2006 by criminals who thought 'all Jews have money', was chopped down in a case being investigated by the French police. 

French Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner said that "antisemitism is spreading like position." 

 

He vowed the French republic will fight this toxic trend. 

In a sharp increase from 2017, 541 attacks on Jews were reported in 2018, an increase of 230 attacks since 2017.