PARIS (JTA) — Molotov cocktails were launched at a synagogue in suburban Paris and at a Jewish community building near Strasbourg.
Sunday’s firebombing near the synagogue in the northern suburb of Saint-Denis also partly burned a Jewish restaurant.
No injuries were reported in either attack.
The National Bureau of Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism blamed the mayor of Saint-Denis, a member of the Communist Party, for the attack, which came after the city called for a pro-Palestinian protest on Jan. 8, and a pro-Palestinian rally on Jan. 10 in Paris featuring 30,000 demonstrators turned violent.
"What we feared has arrived," the bureau’s president, Sammy Ghozlan, told reporters.
The bureau had demanded that police prevent Mayor Didier Paillard’s anti-Israel rally, which "risked provoking … and inciting hate" of Jews, Ghozlan said in a statement, but his calls went unheeded.
Paillard said Monday that the bureau’s accusation was an "unacceptable manipulation," and the city organized a peaceful gathering in front of the synagogue for Monday night.
French politicians overwhelmingly condemned both attacks, which come as similar crime increases in tandem with virulent anti-Israel rallies across the nation.
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