Wiesenthal Centre Calls for Government Security for Jewish Schools, Synagogues and Institutions

PARIS - The Wiesenthal Centre recalls the December 2016 withdrawal of armed guards outside Jewish schools, synagogues and institutions - who had been placed by former PresidentHollande during the “state of siege” following the January 2015 Charlie Hebdo and Hyper Cacher supermarket terror attacks.

The Centre’s Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, had requested that then-Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve to, “announce the deployment of plain-clothed officers even ifthere were none.”

Since then, Samuels has pleaded for greater attention to security, to little avail.

Two days ago a teenager was waving a machete outside a Jewish school near Lyon, screaming “dirty Jews!” The police arrested him on time.

In the case of this young “wanna-be Jew-killer,” he must not be allowed to become a model for other radicalized antisemitic youth. His age is no reason for clemency, nor can he be allowed the“under the influence of drugs or alcohol” ploy.

"Probably influenced by the March 2012 Islamist murder spree in the Toulouse Ozar HaTorah school and by the October 2020 beheading by a young Jihadist of a schoolteacher, for trying in class tovoice freedom of expression regarding the Charlie Hebdo caricatures of Mohammed, all schools require security, but especially Jewish schools that are more likely to be targeted,” concludedSamuels.

For further information contact Dr. Shimon Samuels at csweurope@gmail.com, join the Center on Facebook,or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent directly to your Twitter feed.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agenciesincluding the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).