By Elizabeth Pineau
PARIS, Feb 13 (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron called for intensified efforts to combat antisemitism in France, as recent government data showed hostility toward Jews has remained high despite a decline in recorded incidents last year.
France, which has the largest Jewish community in Europe, documented 1,320 antisemitic acts in 2025, accounting for 53% of all anti-religious incidents, according to a report released on Thursday by the Interior Ministry.
Even as incidents fell 16% year-on-year, they remained at "historically high" levels for three consecutive years, the Ministry said.
The increase followed the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and subsequent conflict in Gaza.
"Schools, the justice system, elected officials: everyone must be mobilised," Macron said at a ceremony commemorating 20 years since the death of Ilan Halimi, a 23-year-old Jewish man who died after being kidnapped and held captive for 24 days. A gang leader was sentenced in 2009 to life in prison for his abduction, torture and murder.
Macron criticized what he called the "poison of online hatred" and urged the European Commission to hold big online platforms accountable.
"In the France of the Enlightenment, 'free speech' stops at antisemitism and racism," the French leader said.
Antisemitic acts continue rising across Europe. Britain recorded 3,700 antisemitic incidents in 2025, a 4% increase and the second-worst year on record, according to data published on Wednesday by the Community Security Trust, which protects Jews in the UK.
In Germany, cases of antisemitism nearly doubled to 8,627 last year, according to the Federal Research and Information Point for Antisemitism, pointing to violence, vandalism, and threats tied to the Gaza conflict.
(Reporting by Elizabeth Pineau and Gianluca Lo NostroEditing by Peter Graff)
