Call for heightened security after Béziers Jews receive death threats and antisemitic abuse

An anonymous letter describing Jews as “the cancer of humanity” and threatening to attack a full synagogue with “two Kalashnikovs” was sent to the small Jewish community of Béziers in southern France, it was revealed last week.

The letter, containing further antisemitic abuse and death threats to local politicians, prompted both America’s eminent Wiesenthal Centre and France’s National Bureau of Vigilance Against Antisemitism (BNVCA) to express solidarity with the community President.

After telling the community President in an anonymous letter that he “detests this s****y race” and that Jews are “parasites and the cancer of humanity,” the writer references the massacre at Paris’ Bataclan Theatre which was attacked by terrorists in November 2015, leaving 130 dead. The anonymous writer said he had ”bought two Kalashnikovs” and a lot of ammunition “just for you” and would “wait until the synagogues will be full of vermin” so that he could “do a bigger carnage than at the Bataclan.” The Bataclan was Jewish-owned and often hosted Jewish events.

He then threatened to “go see my dear friend”, Béziers Mayor Robert Ménard, “his wife and his councillos [sic] and will empty my magazines on them.” He signed off: “See you very soon my friends.”

Dr Shimon Samuels, the Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, stressed that this was “not simply an example of hateful intent to commit murder,” but was “clearly antisemitic” and “inspired by Jihadi terrorism.”

“We express solidarity with those under menace in Béziers and call for heightened security from police forces and a rapid arrest of the author of this terrorist and antisemitic death threat,” declared Dr Samuels.

His letter also noted that the inclusion of the Mayor and his wife and councillors in the list of potential victims “confirms the author’s apocalyptic intentions” as well as hinting at “a wannabe lone-wolf terrorist.” He added that representatives of the Wiesenthal Centre would be present in Paris in September when the trial proceedings begin of accomplices allegedly involved in the November 2015 terror attacks in Paris.

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Image credit: French National Bureau of Vigilance Against Antisemitism via the Simon Wiesenthal Centre