Paris synagogues and Holocaust memorial vandalized with green paint on Shabbat
“These paint sprays are a stain on our republican values,” said the French Jewish group CRIF
A photo shows green paint thrown on the walls of the Agoudas Hakehilos synagogue in Paris on May 31, 2025. The Shoah Memorial, two synagogues, and a restaurant in central Paris were sprayed with green paint overnight on May 30, 2025, according to police sources. (Photo by Magali Cohen / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP via Getty Images)
(JTA) — Vandals covered three Jewish sites in Paris with green paint late Friday night, in an act that has unsettled French Jews.
The paint covered walls of the Agoudas Hakehilos synagogue and the Tournelles synagogue as well as the Shoah Memorial for French victims of the Holocaust. The three sites are located within several blocks of each other in Paris’ historic Jewish center.
Covering sites with red paint has come to be understood as a protest against Israel as it wages war in Gaza. The Paris vandal or vandals did not indicate a motive for the green paint.
“Whatever the perpetrators and their motivations, these acts do not only target walls: they violently stigmatize French Jews, their memory and their places of worship,” said the French Jewish group CRIF, which said a restaurant had also been vandalized. “These paint sprays are a stain on our republican values.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog noted in a statement that one of the synagogues was founded by his great-grandfather.
“I am appalled by the attack on Jewish institutions in Paris over Shabbat — including the synagogue in the Marais neighborhood which was built by my great-grandfather Rabbi Joel Herzog,” Herzog said, referring to Agoudas Hakehilos. He said he had spoken to French Jewish leaders and called on French authorities to investigate swiftly.
The mayor of Paris and other French authorities condemned the vandalism and vowed to apprehend and punish the perpetrators.
