The 27-year-old who set fire to a kosher supermarket in Paris during a July 20 anti-Israel riot received a four-year prison sentence on Wednesday, almost double what the prosecution was seeking.
This is just one example of the increased anti-Semitic activity in France this year. July 2014 saw more reported incidents than in all of 2013, according to French watchdog group SPCJ. Israel’s operation in Gaza this summer was the catalyst for most of these episodes.
The supermarket incident took place during a temporary ban on rallies against Israel in France, due to the thinly veiled anti-Semitism present in many of the demonstrations.
French riot police officers attempt to quell a disturbance in Sarcelles, a suburb north of Paris, on July 20, 2014, following a protest against Israel’s military actions in Gaza.
