Synagogue ‘terror’ attack suspect wears Palestinian flag around waist

Firefighters tackle blaze in La Grande-Motte as police hunt for suspect and find gas canister in nearby car

An armed man with a Palestinian flag wrapped around his waist set fire to a synagogue in France in what Emmanuel Macron branded a “terrorist attack”.
CCTV footage showed the suspect leaving the Beth Yaacov synagogue in the seaside resort of La Grande-Motte just before an explosion on Saturday morning.
Flames can be seen licking the side of the building in the image, which shows the man wearing a keffiyeh with a gun stuffed under his belt.  He is carrying plastic bottles of clear liquid.
A policeman was injured in a blast outside the synagogue at 8.30am. Two cars, one of which contained at least one gas canister, were set on fire in the carpark.
Several outlets said the injured police officer’s life was not in danger.
Firefighters discovered additional fires at two entrances to the synagogue. Five people, including the rabbi, who were present in the synagogue complex at the time of the attack were unharmed, the National Anti-terrorism Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement.
Mr Macron, the French president, said: “We’re doing all we can to find the person who carried out this terrorist act and to protect places of worship.”
Gabriel Attal, the French prime minister, wrote on X: “This is an anti-Semitic attack. Once more, our Jewish compatriots are targeted. We won’t give up. In the face of anti-Semitism, in the face of violence, we will never allow ourselves to be intimidated.”
France, like other countries in Europe, has seen a surge in antisemitic incidents following the Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct. 7 and Israel’s retaliatory assault on Gaza.
The officer was taken to hospital in nearby Montpellier after being knocked to the ground in the blast as he was securing the perimeter of the building.
He was among firefighters, police and gendarmes who rushed to the fire at the Beth Yaacov synagogue after two cars were torched outside it.
Gerald Darmanin, the interior minister, said: “An attempted arson attack, clearly criminal, hit the synagogue of La Grande Motte this morning.
“I want to assure our Jewish fellow citizens and the municipality of my full support and say that at the request of the president of the Republic Emmanuel Macron, all means are being mobilised to find the perpetrator.”
Hussein Bourgi, a senator for the Herault region, offered “all my solidarity” to the Jewish community in La Grande-Motte, which has a population of about 8,500.
“The synagogue of La Grande-Motte is on fire. It appears to be arson and criminal in nature,” he said.
“I denounce in the strongest terms the events that took place this morning at the synagogue in La Grande-Motte. I have asked the police and gendarmes to strengthen the security of Jewish interests in the department,” Francois-Xavier Lauch, the prefect of the Herault region, said.
France has the largest Jewish community in Western Europe and the biggest outside Israel and the US but hate crimes against Jews are on the rise.
According to government figures, 366 anti-Semitic acts were recorded between January and March this year, marking a 300 per cent increase compared to the same period the year before.
Earlier this year, French police shot dead an armed man who set fire to a synagogue in the city of Rouen, Normandy.