Paris, Oct. 27, (dpa/GNA) – French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin on Thursday said that there have been 719 anti-Semitic incidents in France since the attack by Islamist group Hamas on Israel nearly three weeks ago.
Darmanin told French newspaper Le Dauphiné Libéré that 389 arrests have been made in connection to the incidents. He said that the high number of incidents was possibly also related to an increased police presence.
In addition, there had been almost 5,000 reports of threats, anti-Semitic statements or the glorification of terrorism on the internet in the country, according to data collected through a special reporting platform.
For years, anti-religious incidents have been on the rise in France, Darmanin said. In addition to Jews, Christians and Muslims have also been affected.
“These attacks on religion, this hatred of others is quite strong in our country,” the newspaper quoted him as saying.
Hamas gunmen carried out a terrorist attack on October 7 that left over 1,400 people dead in Israel, which has responded with a bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
The Hamas-run Health Ministry said the number of Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip was over 7,000. The figure could not be independently verified.
GNA