Ex-Owner Says Paris Concert Hall Not Targeted Over Jewish Ties
Image by Getty Images
Joel Laloux, the former owner of the Bataclan concert hall who now lives in Israel, denied the venue was targeted because he is Jewish.
Laloux, who sold the Paris venue where 89 people were killed on Friday night before moving to the southern Israeli city of Ashdod, told the news agency AFP that neither his religion, nor the fact that the venue had played host to pro-Israel events, were a factor in the killings.
Laloux said such speculation, which has spread widely online in the wake of the attack, is “stupid and pointless.” The hall was targeted simply because the attackers knew it would be full, he said.
“When a concert is held at the Bataclan, there are between 1,500 and 2,000 people,” Laloux said.
For several years, the Bataclan was the site of the annual fundraising gala of Migdal, a French Jewish nonprofit group that supports the Israeli Border Police. Last month, the theater hosted a gathering of some 500 Zionist Christians.
In 2008, several men wearing Arab kaffiyehs over their faces showed up at the theater and warned a security guard. “You will pay the consequences of your actions,” one man said, according to a video of the incident.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
