Hyper Cacher – Eye on Islamism

Site of Hyper Cacher massacre set on fire in suspected arson 'This act of vandalism, just months after the attack’s tenth anniversary, is yet another reminder of the persistent threats Jewish communities face,' the EJC said on X.

March 20, 2025 Michael Starr

(Jerusalem Post) The supermarket that was the site of the 2015 Hyper Cacher massacre was set on fire in an arson on Wednesday night, according to French political leaders. Paris 20th arrondissement Mayor Éric Pliez said on Instagram that the arsonist’s motives […]

One dead, several wounded in ‘Islamist’ knife attack in France

February 22, 2025 Sebastien Bozon, Antoine Pollez and Jürgen Hecker

(AFP) A man who went on a stabbing rampage in France, killing one and wounding several others in what President Emmanuel Macron called an “Islamist terrorist act,” was on a terrorism watchlist and subject to deportation orders, according to authorities. The knife-wielding […]

Man jailed for knife attack aimed at French magazine Charlie Hebdo

January 23, 2025 Unlisted Author

(AFP) A Paris court on Thursday sentenced a Pakistani man to 30 years in jail for attempting to murder two people outside the former offices of Charlie Hebdo in 2020 with a meat cleaver. When he carried out the attack, 29-year-old Zaheer […]

Jewish leaders warn of rising hate as France remembers supermarket victims

January 9, 2025 Unlisted Author

(Radio France) French Jewish leaders joined politicians, rights campaigners and some 200 people in eastern Paris on Thursday to mark 10 years since four people were killed in a terrorist attack at a kosher supermarket. The ceremony took place outside the Hypercacher […]

World’s most wanted female ISIS terrorist found alive and living freely in Syria

January 9, 2025 Stephen Rigley

(LBC) The world’s most wanted ISIS woman terrorist is alive and living freely in Syria, 10 years after taking part in a notorious attack in Paris. Hayat [Boumeddiene], 36, and her lover Amedy Coulibaly, then 32, were also part of the Charlie […]

France marks 10 years since deadly Charlie Hebdo attack

January 7, 2025 Thomas Adamson

(AP) A decade after Islamic extremist gunmen stormed the offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in a deadly assault that shook France to its core and ignited a global outcry in defense of freedom of speech, the nation paused on Tuesday […]

Charlie Hebdo marks decade since gun attack with special issue

January 6, 2025 Hugh Schofield

(BBC) Exactly 10 years after the jihadist gun attack that killed most of its editorial staff, France’s Charlie Hebdo has put out a special issue to show its cause is still kicking. Things changed for France on 7 January 2015, marking in […]

10 years after attack, Charlie Hebdo is uncowed and still provoking

January 3, 2025 Adam Plowright and Anne Pascale Reboul

(AFP) French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo is set to publish a special God-mocking edition next week to mark 10 years since an attack on its offices by jihadist gunmen that left eight staff members dead. The anniversary of the shocking attack on […]

How Jewish journalist Ruth Elkrief wound up in the middle of France’s debate over antisemitism and Islamophobia

February 21, 2024 Shira Li Bartov

(JTA) The Jewish French-Moroccan journalist Ruth Elkrief — who has delivered TV news in France for over 30 years — found herself at the center of the story when she was placed under police protection in December. Elkrief received the security detail […]

Netanyahu condemns ‘waves of antisemitism’ by rioters in France 'We support the French government in its fight against the scourge of antisemitism,' says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

July 2, 2023 Unlisted Author

(JNS) Israel is closely monitoring and deeply concerned about “waves of antisemitism sweeping over France,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during Sunday’s weekly Cabinet meeting. “In recent days, we have witnessed criminal assaults against Jewish targets. We strongly condemn these attacks […]

Charlie Hebdo attack victims honoured as Iran rages over new cartoons

January 7, 2023 Unlisted Author

(AFP) French politicians paid tribute Saturday to Charlie Hebdo staff and other victims of the January 2015 Islamist attacks, days after the satirical weekly’s latest edition sparked outrage in Iran. French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted the names of all 17 victims of […]

Two 2016 Nice terror attack accomplices appeal conviction

December 26, 2022 Unlisted Author

(AFP) Two men who received the longest prison terms for allegedly aiding in the 2016 terror attack in the French resort city of Nice have appealed their conviction, prosecutors told AFP on Monday. Their appeal came weeks after French judges ordered prison […]

Suspect in Charlie Hebdo attack gets life sentence on appeal

October 20, 2022 Unlisted Author

(AFP) A man accused of helping find weapons for the jihadist gunmen who attacked the Charlie Hebdo magazine and a Jewish supermarket in France eight years ago was given a life sentence after his appeal trial, a judicial source said Thursday. Ali […]

Appeal trial opens over 2015 Charlie Hebdo attack in France

September 12, 2022 Anne-Sophie Lasserre

(AFP) The appeal trial opened in Paris on Monday for two men suspected of helping the gunmen who stormed the Charlie Hebdo satirical weekly and a Jewish supermarket in January 2015, the first of a wave of Islamist terror attacks that have […]

Appeal to start in French court over Charlie Hebdo attack

September 10, 2022 Anne-Sophie Lasserre

(AFP) An appeal trial is set to begin Monday as two men ruled to have helped Islamist gunmen prepare a deadly 2015 attack on satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo seek to overturn their convictions. Twelve people were killed at the magazine’s Paris office […]

As key French terror trial ends, Europe faces new security landscape

June 28, 2022 Lisa Bryant

(VOA) One of France’s most high-profile trials in history wraps up this week amid a sharply changing security landscape across Europe, where the war in Ukraine and far-right violence have reshaped threat perceptions once dominated by Islamist extremism. Verdicts are expected Wednesday […]

Why Belgium is still a terror risk

March 28, 2022 Unlisted Author

(Brussels Times) Six years ago, it felt like extremist terrorism would haunt us permanently. The March 2016 bombs in the Brussels metro and airport left 35 people dead. They came after the November 2015 attacks in Paris that killed 138. Jihadists claimed […]

Pain endures for French Jews a decade after Toulouse shootings

March 20, 2022 Amanda Morrow

(Radio France) Ten years after France was rocked by a series of Islamist shootings targeting Jewish children and French soldiers, President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday joined two of his predecessors — Nicolas Sarkozy and François Holland[e] — along with Israeli President Isaac […]

French imam recounts death threats from Islamists for asking to respect Holocaust In emotional TV interview, Hassen Chalghoumi says his family has been assaulted, harassed for years over his interfaith work

January 29, 2022 Unlisted Author

(Times of Israel) A French imam known for his involvement in interfaith initiatives said he and his family have been living under threat from Islamists for years, emotionally recalling the toll the assaults and harassment have taken. In an interview with France […]

Dead, imprisoned, disgraced: A family destroyed by an ideology of hate

December 16, 2021 Michael Fitzpatrick

(Radio France) This has been the week of the Clain family at the Paris attacks trial. On Tuesday, a police witness described the careers of Fabien and Jean-Michel Clain, directors of the IS propaganda effort, both presumed dead in Syria. On Wednesday, […]

Former interior minister says he will be haunted by Paris attacks ‘until my last breath’

November 17, 2021 Juliette Jabkhiro

(Reuters) The minister in charge of France’s security at the time of the 2015 attacks in Paris in which Islamist gunmen killed 130 people told a court on Wednesday that he was haunted by the question of whether authorities could have done […]

Murderer of elderly French Jewish woman gets life sentence

November 10, 2021 Anne Sophie Labadie

(AFP) A French court on Wednesday sentenced the killer of an elderly Jewish woman to life imprisonment, with no possibility of parole for 22 years, over the 2018 murder which caused an outcry over anti-Semitism in France. Yacine Mihoub was convicted of […]

‘Democracy stronger than barbarism,’ Hollande tells attacks trial

November 10, 2021 Anne-Sophie Lasserre and Marie Dhumieres

(AFP) Former French president Francois Hollande on Wednesday told the trial held over the November 2015 Paris terror attacks he had no regrets about ordering airstrikes against the Islamic State group, which the assailants claimed as justification for the bloodshed. Hollande, who […]

Ex-president Hollande to testify in Paris attacks trial

November 9, 2021 Unlisted Author

(AFP) Former French leader Francois Hollande will testify Wednesday in the trial over the November 2015 Paris terror attacks, facing questions over how a jihadist commando was able to evade detection while preparing the atrocities that would shake France to its core. […]

Trial opens over murder of elderly Jewish French woman

October 26, 2021 Marie Dhumieres

(AFP) Two men went on trial on Tuesday over the 2018 murder of an elderly Jewish woman that provoked protests and alarm in France about anti-Semitic crime. The partly burned body of Mireille Knoll, 85, was found in her apartment in central […]

Chief suspect defiant on first day of landmark 2015 Paris attacks trial

September 8, 2021 Aude Mazoue

(France 24) Salah Abdeslam, the 31-year-old French-Moroccan believed to be the only surviving member of the group that carried out the November 2015 jihadist attacks in Paris, told a courtroom on Wednesday that he was a “soldier of the Islamic State group.” […]

France’s biggest trial to open over November 2015 attacks

September 5, 2021 Anne-Sophie Lasserre

(AFP) The biggest trial in France’s modern legal history begins on Wednesday over the November 2015 attacks on Paris that saw 130 people slaughtered at bars, restaurants and the Bataclan concert hall. The suicide bombing and gun assault by three teams of […]

Church and state collide in public school cafeterias

July 27, 2021 Esther

Halal school lunches have been in the news lately. Last spring, school districts in Buffalo, New York, and Atlantic City, New Jersey, announced they would begin pilot programs to serve halal lunches at some of their schools. New York City announced it […]

At the Sarah Halimi rally in Paris, I saw signs that French Jewry is nearing a breaking point

April 29, 2021 Cnaan Liphshiz

(JTA) Joining the stream of people converging on Trocadero Square, I soon realized that this event would be significantly different from the dozens of Jewish community gatherings I had attended in France. The atmosphere, rhetoric, symbolism and attendance at the “Justice for […]

Thousands protest in France over no trial for Jewish woman’s killer

April 25, 2021 Unlisted Author

(AFP) Thousands of protesters gathered in several French cities and Israel on Sunday to denounce a court’s refusal of a trial for a man who killed a 65-year-old Jewish woman, after experts determined he acted in a “delirious fit” due to heavy […]

Israel blasts French ruling keeping Sarah Halimi’s killer from trial Calling the murder ‘despicable,’ Foreign Ministry says court judgment fails to convey attitude of zero tolerance toward anti-Semitism

April 21, 2021 Lazar Berman

(Times of Israel) Israel blasted on Tuesday the ruling by France’s highest court that the murderer of Sarah Halimi was not criminally responsible because he had smoked marijuana before the crime. “Sarah Halimi was murdered for clearly anti-Semitic motivations, for the sole […]

Macron urges law change after Jewish woman’s killer avoids trial

April 19, 2021 Unlisted Author

(AFP) President Emmanuel Macron urged a change in French law after a man who murdered a Jewish woman in 2017 avoided a trial on the grounds he acted in delirium due to drug-taking, in an interview published Monday. Jewish groups have reacted […]

Italy arrests ‘forger’ over links to 2015 Paris attack

March 8, 2021 Alexandria Sage

(AFP) Italian police said Monday they had arrested a 36-year-old Algerian on suspicion of belonging to the Islamic State group and helping the authors of the November 2015 Paris attacks. The man, identified by La Repubblica newspaper as Athmane Touami, is alleged […]

Jewish school guards overpower knife-wielding man outside kosher store in France

March 5, 2021 Cnaan Liphshiz

(JTA) Guards protecting a Jewish school in the French city of Marseille overpowered a man wielding a knife whom they suspected intended to stab patrons at a nearby kosher store and bakery. The incident Friday morning happened in the city’s 13th district, […]

Remembrances of Hyper Cacher victims begin, ahead of sixth anniversary of terror attack

January 8, 2021 Unlisted Author

(Algemeiner) Six years after the tragic events, commemorations began Thursday to the victims of the 2015 Islamist attacks in Paris against the Charlie Hebdo magazine, on Jan. 7, and the Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket two days later. “This morning, 6 years later, […]

Paris holds solemn ceremonies to remember victims of January 2015 attacks

January 7, 2021 Unlisted Author

(Radio France) The French capital [paid] tribute on Thursday to the victims of the terror attacks that occurred at the beginning of 2015. The ceremonies were “marked by sobriety,” due to reinforced health measures in the context of the Covid-19 crisis. Six […]

French court jails Moroccan for life over foiled 2015 train attack

December 17, 2020 Marie Dhumieres

(AFP) A French court on Thursday jailed for life a Moroccan man who planned a terror attack on a Paris-bound international train in 2015 but was thwarted by passengers including off-duty US soldiers. The Paris court convicted Ayoub El Khazzani, now 31, […]

French court hands guilty verdicts to all Charlie Hebdo accomplices

December 16, 2020 Mike Woods

(Radio France) A Paris court has handed guilty verdicts to 14 suspects accused of helping to plan deadly attacks on Charlie Hebdo magazine, police officers and a kosher market in January 2015. The court dropped terror qualifications for six suspects, citing evidence […]

Charlie Hebdo attack: France seeks long jail terms in Paris trial

December 8, 2020 Unlisted Author

(BBC) France’s anti-terror prosecutors have called for defendants on trial for a series of militant Islamist attacks in Paris to be given long jail terms. The January 2015 attacks on Charlie Hebdo magazine, a policewoman and a Jewish supermarket left 17 people […]

French lawyers express dismay at downplaying of antisemitism during trial of terror suspects linked to Jan. 2015 attacks

December 7, 2020 Ben Cohen

(Algemeiner) Prosecutors at the trial in France of 14 defendants charged with providing support to the Islamist terrorists behind the January 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris began their closing arguments in court on Monday, amid concern that the antisemitic character of the […]

At Thalys attack trial, passengers recount stopping gunman with bare hands

November 19, 2020 Tangi Salaun

(Reuters) Two French citizens described to a court in Paris on Thursday how they used their bare hands to disarm and immobilise an Islamist gunman in an attack on a high-speed train in France in 2015. The testimony was given in the […]

Trial starts over foiled Paris train attack that inspired movie

November 16, 2020 Marie Dhumieres

(AFP) A Moroccan man and three alleged accomplices went on trial in France Monday for an attempted terror attack on an Amsterdam-Paris train five years ago that was foiled by passengers whose heroic actions were turned into a Hollywood film. Hollywood legend […]

Trial to begin over foiled Paris train attack that inspired movie

November 13, 2020 Marie Dhumieres

(AFP) A Moroccan man goes on trial in France on Monday accused of an attempted terror attack on an Amsterdam-Paris train five years ago which was foiled by passengers whose heroic actions were turned into a Hollywood film. Director Clint Eastwood, 90, […]

Man sentenced to life after failed French church bombing

November 5, 2020 Nicolas Vaux-Montagny

(AP) A Paris criminal court sentenced a 29-year-old Algerian man Thursday to life in prison for killing a woman and trying to bomb a church near the French capital in a failed 2015 attack that investigators said was plotted by Islamic State […]

‘I won’t be your scapegoat,’ Charlie Hebdo attack suspect tells Paris court

October 26, 2020 Unlisted Author

(Radio France) The main defendant in France’s Charlie Hebdo trial on Monday again denied all involvement in the January 2015 attacks as he appeared before Paris’s Special Assize Court. Ali Riza Polat, who is one of 14 people being tried, told judges […]

France to crack down on online posts after teacher’s murder

October 23, 2020 Jürgen Hecker

(AFP) France said on Friday it would crack down on social media posts that put people in danger by divulging their personal details, a week after the murder of a teacher targeted in an online campaign over Prophet Mohammed cartoons. Samuel Paty […]

Following French teacher’s beheading, Jewish groups urge members to rally against Islamic terrorism

October 18, 2020 Cnaan Liphshiz

(JTA) French Jewish groups have called on their supporters to join a rally Sunday in memory of the schoolteacher murdered Friday after facing criticism for showing caricatures of the Islamic prophet Muhammad to his students. The rally in memory of Samuel Paty, […]

‘You will pay’: Paris attacks suspect threatens police witness

October 16, 2020 Unlisted Author

(AFP) The main suspect in the trial of alleged accomplices in the 2015 Paris terror attacks caused an uproar in court Friday when he threatened a policewoman during her testimony. “You will pay for this,” shouted Ali Riza Polat, who is believed […]

Teacher beheaded in France after showing Mohammed cartoons

October 16, 2020 Jürgen Hecker

(AFP) A French teacher who had recently shown students cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed was beheaded outside his school on Friday, in what President Emmanuel Macron called an “Islamist terrorist attack.” The assailant, whose identity has not been established, was shot by […]

As terrorism trial unfolds in Paris, France confronts its problem with Islamist extremism Muslim hardliners trying to capitalize on alienation many young Muslims feel

October 11, 2020 Don Murray

(CBC) “This is our separatism.” Separatism — a word that has weight in many countries, notably Canada. Here the speaker was French, in fact it was French President Emmanuel Macron. The separatism he was talking about, in a major and long-delayed speech […]