Fire in front of the synagogue in La Grande-Motte: “We can be concerned about other acts of this type”, according to criminologist Alain Bauer

Alain Bauer redoute d’autres actions disproportionnées au regard de la situation à Gaza. MAXPPP – Vincent Isore

Le professeur de criminologie, note que les craintes d’agressions antisémites sont à un niveau alarmant et souligne que "l’antisémitisme des mots se fait toujours déborder par celui des actes". 

Was this burning of the synagogue, which everything seems to indicate was criminal, foreseeable??

It was unfortunately envisaged. The services of the Ministry of the Interior had repeatedly raised the levels of protection of Jewish establishments and anti-Semitic attacks of all kinds were at an alarming level.

Should we be alarmed by the exponential number of criminal acts against the Jewish community ?

Obviously. Any aggression against a community in the name of what it is, in a scapegoat logic, creates both the conditions for social disintegration in a country that has long asserted its capacity for integration and living together with our differences and internal conflicts around an external issue in which France is not a stakeholder.

Have we crossed a new threshold with this fire and the gas cylinder found in a car that everything indicates was going to cause a lot of damage, or even kill ?

Yes. But bomb attacks, knife attacks, verbal attacks, in a chaotic and violent global context are all part of the same approach. Since the Rue des Rosiers or the Rue Copernic, two attacks that have marked the terrorist history of France, we know and feel that the anti-Semitism of words is always overtaken by that of acts.

Isn't a place of worship easy prey, difficult to secure ?

Yes, especially for any individual with the will to destroy or kill.

What consequences are to be feared given the situation in Gaza which remains desperately blocked ?

We can be concerned about other acts of this type. In particular, the longer this situation lasts, given the deadly logic developed by the terrorist attacks of October 7 and their disproportionate consequences. If we are to believe some Israeli analysts themselves, this will continue to create risks in the region but also throughout the world.

To go further, read the author's "Thou shalt not kill", published by Fayard I subscribe to read the rest