In January 2016, a 15-year-old student wielding a machete, who said he was acting in the name of Allah, stabbed a Jewish teacher. In the aftermath of the attack, Zvi Ammar, head of Marseille's Jewish community, sparked a debate when he said it might be better for Jews in the city to stop wearing the kippah, perhaps the most recognizable symbol of Jewish identity.
"For the time being," Ammar said, "at least until these barbarians calm down."
More than a decade later, French Jews —the ones who haven't left — are still waiting for that calm, and not just in France, but across Europe.
On July 3, French Jews visiting Barcelona, Spain, left a synagogue after Shabbat services and dinner, identifiable by the kippahs on their heads. I recently wrote about a video showing passersby unleashing rage on a journalist holding an Israeli flag on the streets of Barcelona. What happened to two of the French Jews on their walk back to their hotel shows that the kippah can trigger similar unhinged responses.
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The first aggrieved person who had to endure the sight of Jews walking the streets of the Catalan city was a heavily tattooed woman wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh. What is a believer of the genocide libel against Israel supposed to do when coming across such a spectacle? According to witnesses, she immediately gave chase while shouting antisemitic slurs and spitting at the two men.
Soon, others couldn't resist joining in. Ynetglobal reports that "dozens of other people joined the pursuit, some of them on bicycles, scooters and motorcycles." A spirited debate they were not seeking; instead, they hurled the invectives we are hearing so much lately: “Jews are not welcome in Barcelona,” “baby killers,” and “Israeli genocide." The two Jewish men, whom the crowd blocked from moving freely, said they feared being physically attacked during the 90-minute walk to the Hotel Arts. Fortunately, security guards prevented the mob from entering the hotel.
“If confirmed, this would be one of the most serious episodes of antisemitic harassment recorded in Barcelona in recent years,” the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain, which is currently collecting evidence related to the incident, said.
I have reported on other recent antisemitic episodes in Barcelona, including the attack on the Jewish section of the Les Corts cemetery in January, in which over 20 graves were desecrated:
The antisemitic vandalism led to the closure of sections of the Jewish cemetery throughout Barcelona. An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman took to X to criticize Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, the man I’ve called the most anti-Israel leader in the West, saying: “We condemn the vandalism of the Jewish cemetery in Barcelona. This despicable act is a result of the anti-Israel campaign by the Sánchez government.”
Sánchez supports a Palestinian state while claiming that Israel, which he called a “genocidal state” in parliament in 2024, is “exterminating a defenseless people” in Gaza. He called for Israel to be banned from the Eurovision Song Contest last year and even bemoaned the fact that Spain does not have nuclear weapons when discussing ways his country could pressure Israel.
I noted in that piece that the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain tied the cemetery attack to a map created by pro-Palestinian activists that lists Jewish schools, restaurants, and businesses. I wondered then, “How long until we see an escalation from grave desecration to attacks on Jewish people in those establishments, such as we saw in Manchester and during the Bondi Beach Hanukkah shooting?”
I fear that escalation is happening faster than many of us thought possible. The harassment of the French Jews on Friday was not the only disturbing incident in 2026 against Jews in Barcelona since the grave desecration. Two Jewish women were kicked out of a Barcelona spa in May because one of them was wearing a Star of David necklace. The woman was, of course, accused of being a supporter of genocide, but Australian podcaster Erin Molan gave the real reason she was barred entry: “She’s a Jew and that’s the reason. And it’s not because she’s a Zionist. That is BS. You know it. I know it.” Many of us do get it; however, as more and more people get brainwashed with the lie that anti-Zionism is not antisemitism, we’ll continue to see such harassment — and possibly more severe violence — across cities throughout the West.
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