The window full of holes and stained with red paint is sadly displayed in the small street of Villeurbanne. At dawn on September 3, 2024, the O’Laffa kosher restaurant in this Lyon suburb was found vandalized, ” Free Gaza » (“Liberate Gaza”) on its facade. “ Here, we are for peace, you bunch of cowards », replied Cindy and Michaël, the restaurateur couple, in white marker. “ We cry every day in front of this war, confides the warm manager. I blame them for it taking so long. The longer it lasts, the less good it is for Israel and for us. » Opened a year ago, the restaurant served 200 seats per day before October 7.
« Since then, customers have been afraid and no longer dare to come. It’s even worse now… Michaël modestly relates. You are in front of poor Jews! » To support them, the rabbi of the great synagogue of Lyon, Nissim Malka, moved one of his weekly Jewish thought classes to the establishment. “ They could have at least broken the restaurant of an unfriendly family, because this one is gold! », jokes the phlegmatic father, whose humor matches his spiritual depth. “ Even if the Jews of France have an early acclimatization to violence, a threshold has been crossed this year. »
Liberation from hatred
Indeed, the Hamas raid on Israel on October 7, 2023 and the war in Gaza unleashed hatred on the approximately 450,000 Jews in France. According to figures from the Jewish Community Protection Service (SPCJ), set up after the attack on Rue Copernic in 1980 and working with the Ministry of the Interior, 1,676 anti-Semitic acts were perpetrated in 2023 compared to 436 in 2022, especially after October 7. The peak (207) occurred on October 9 – with the Israeli army not entering Gaza until the 27th.
Based on complaints to the police, the SPCJ figures only express part of the
Related News :