Boys in France charged with anti-Semitic rape of 12-year-old Jewish girl

Two adolescent boys in a Paris suburb have been charged with French authorities said on Wednesday that the incident involved the rape of a 12-year-old girl and religiously motivated violence.

The incident sparked outrage in France, which has been battling rising anti-Semitism since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Accusations of anti-Semitism have also been raised in the run-up to the controversial elections on June 30 and July 7.

The public prosecutor’s office in Nanterre, the western suburb of Paris, which opened the investigation into the alleged attack, did not name the girl’s religious affiliation or reveal her identity in order to protect the victim – in line with the usual procedure for hate crimes in France.

However, lawyer and Jewish leader Elie Korchia said in an interview with French broadcaster BFM that the girl was Jewish, and leading politicians from across France’s political spectrum condemned the incident as an act of anti-Semitism.

Immediately after October 7, when Hamas attacked southern Israel and triggered the war in the Gaza Strip, there was a rise in anti-Semitic acts in France.

Police in Courbevoie, where the alleged rape was reported, did not provide further information or confirmation on the details of the attack or the identity of the complainant or suspects when asked by NBC News.

The girl reported a rape on Saturday and three boys aged 12 and 13 were arrested, according to the Nanterre public prosecutor’s office.

Several preliminary charges were brought against two of the boys on Tuesday, including aggravated gang rape of a minor under 15, religiously motivated violence and public insult, death threats, attempted extortion and unauthorized recording or broadcasting of sexual images.

The two boys will be held in custody pending the outcome of the investigation, prosecutors said. The third boy was named as a witness to the alleged rape and placed in a special education program. Prosecutors said the three boys “expressed regret to the victim without addressing their involvement.”

Political leaders from all camps condemned the alleged attack and called for a swift response.

On page X, French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal expressed his “horror and indignation at this monstrous and despicable act” and reiterated his “determination to fight against anti-Semitism tirelessly and regardless of the cost”.

In a press conference on Thursday, Attal said: “We have seen a form of unbridled anti-Semitism develop and be unleashed. And I think that political leaders and political parties have a responsibility to put up barriers to prevent certain rhetoric from becoming a habit.”

President Emmanuel Macron called on schools to hold a “discussion hour” this week on racism and anti-Semitism.

Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin described the alleged attack as “horrific” and said the police had limited ability to prevent such violence. “It is a problem of parents… of authority. It is a problem of society as a whole,” he told BFM television.

France is currently engaged in a blitz campaign for the early parliamentary elections. The frontrunner in the election, the far-right Rassemblement National party, has tried to make security and immigration central issues in the campaign.

Jordan Bardella, leader of the Rassemblement National, said France must fight against an “anti-Semitic atmosphere” in the country that has prevailed since the beginning of the Gaza war. He used the outrage over the alleged attack as a starting point for his campaign goal of “restoring authority and order in every square meter of the territory”.

Opponents accused the Rassemblement National and the right-wing radical party La France Insomniac within the Front Popular alliance of tolerating anti-Semitic views in their ranks. Both parties deny these allegations.

“Horrified by this rape in Courbevoie and everything it brings to light in terms of the shaping of male criminal behaviour from early childhood and anti-Semitic racism,” said Jean-Luc Mélenchon, president of France Unbowed. posted on X and asked that “we do not make a media circus out of this crime and the suffering it causes.”

The France Unbowed party is the most vocal critic of Israel’s war in Gaza and has been accused of anti-Semitism by, among others, Attal, the centrist prime minister, and Marine Le Pen, a far-right former presidential candidate.

“The stigmatization of Jews in recent months by the extreme left, which uses the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a tool, represents a real threat to internal peace,” Le Pen said on X, linking her accusations to the upcoming elections.

On Wednesday evening, hundreds of people gathered outside Paris City Hall to protest against anti-Semitism. Many in the crowd held signs, including some with the slogan “Raped because she is Jewish.”