Paris (AFP) – Red paint and slogans were daubed at the entry to the offices of national Israeli airline El Al in Paris, with Israel Thursday urging French authorities to take action over the “barbaric act”. Anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian slogans and inscriptions, including “Free Palestine” and “El Al Genocide Airline”, were written on the entrance, which, along with the pavement, was also daubed with red paint overnight Wednesday to Thursday.
“I condemn the barbaric and violent act against El Al and expect the law enforcement authorities in France to locate the criminals and take strong action against them,” Israel’s Transport Minister Miri Regev wrote on X. The act was the result of announcements by President Emmanuel Macron that “make gifts to” Palestinian militant group Hamas, she added — an apparent reference to his announcement last month that France plans to recognise a Palestinian state.
Israel’s ambassador to France, Joshua Zarka, visiting the scene, described the vandalism as an “act of terrorism” that aims to “terrorise El Al employees, terrorise Israeli citizens, scare them and try to make them feel that they are not welcome.” According to El Al, quoted by Israeli TV channel N12, “the incident occurred while the building was empty and there was no danger to the company’s employees.” El Al proudly displays the Israeli flag on the tail of its aircraft and condemns all forms of violence, particularly those based on anti-Semitism, the national airline added.
French Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot condemned the “acts of vandalism” on X, saying that “acts of hatred and antisemitism have no place” in France. Authorities have opened an investigation into acts of property damage committed on the grounds of race, ethnicity, nationality, or religion, Paris’s public prosecutor’s office told AFP.
In early June, several Jewish sites in Paris were sprayed with green paint. Three Serbs were charged and placed under arrest and are suspected by investigators of having acted to serve the interests of a foreign power, possibly Russia. The October 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel that sparked the war between Israel and Hamas resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, the majority of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Out of 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s attack, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. The Israeli offensive has killed at least 61,258 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to figures from the Gaza health ministry which are considered reliable by the United Nations.
© 2024 AFP
