Prosecutor opens probe over antisemitic chants in Paris metro

There have been over 850 antisemitic acts in France since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said late on Tuesday, nearly double the number for the whole of 2022.

 French police patrol at the Trocadero Square near the Eiffel Tower in Paris as French government puts nation on its highest state of alert after a deadly knife attack in northern France, October 15, 2023. (photo credit: REUTERS/GONZALO FUENTES)
French police patrol at the Trocadero Square near the Eiffel Tower in Paris as French government puts nation on its highest state of alert after a deadly knife attack in northern France, October 15, 2023.
(photo credit: REUTERS/GONZALO FUENTES)

French prosecutors opened a probe on Wednesday over a video showing a group of youths' antisemitic chants, amid a surge in antisemitism since the attack by Hamas on Israel and subsequent bombardment of Gaza by the Israeli military.

There have been over 850 antisemitic acts in France since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said late on Tuesday, nearly double the number for the whole of 2022.

What was said in the video?

The video, which circulated on social media, showed a group of youngsters in the metro, chanting.

"F*** the Jews and f*** your mother, long live Palestine," the youngsters, whose faces could not be seen, chanted in the video. "We are Nazis and proud of it."

A woman looks at posters depicting missing Israeli citizens likely among the hostages held in Gaza, with the word ''kidnapped,'' following Saturday's attack by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas against Israel, in a street in Paris, France, October 13, 2023.  (credit: REUTERS/Abdul Saboor)
A woman looks at posters depicting missing Israeli citizens likely among the hostages held in Gaza, with the word ''kidnapped,'' following Saturday's attack by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas against Israel, in a street in Paris, France, October 13, 2023. (credit: REUTERS/Abdul Saboor)

"Shocking, unacceptable, unworthy comments," Paris police chief Laurent Nunez said on X, adding that all would be done to identify those involved, while Transport Minister Clement Beaune said the government would be firm.

Prosecutors have also opened an investigation into a series of blue Stars of David spray-painted on walls in Paris and other locations.