French authorities launch terrorism probe after arson attack on synagogue

French authorities on Saturday opened a terrorism investigation after an arson attack on a synagogue in a southwestern Mediterranean town injured a police officer. Security forces were searching for a suspect.

Two cars parked at the Beth Yaacov synagogue complex in the seaside resort town of La Grande-Motte near Montpellier were set ablaze just after 8 a.m. local time Saturday, the National Anti-terrorism Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement.

Firefighters discovered additional fires at two entrances to the synagogue. A police officer who walked up to the site was injured after a propane gas tank in one the vehicles detonated, the statement said.

Five people who were in the synagogue complex at the time of the attack, including the rabbi, were unharmed, it added.

Prosecutors were investigating the attack as an attempted assassination linked to a terrorist group, destruction of property with dangerous means, and a crime planned by a terrorist group with intent to cause harm, the statement said.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the synagogue attack was a “terrorist act” and that “everything is being done” to find the perpetrator.

“The fight against antisemitism is a constant battle,” Macron said on X.

Acting Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said the synagogue was targeted in an “an act of antisemitism.”

“Once again our Jewish fellow citizens are being targeted,” Attal said in a post on X. He added: “Faced with antisemitism, faced with violence, we will never let ourselves be intimidated.”

Acting Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin ordered police reinforcement to protect Jewish places of worship and said the incident was being treated as an “attempted arson” that is “clearly a criminal act.”

“I want to assure our Jewish fellow citizens of my full support and say that at the request of President Emmanuel Macron all means are being mobilized to find the perpetrator,” Darmanin posted on X.

He ordered more police deployed at Jewish places of worship around the country following a surge of antisemitism since the start of the Israel-Hamas war last year.

Darmanin and Attal were expected to travel to La Grande-Motte later on Saturday.