According to the French Interior Ministry, several Jewish religious holidays will be celebrated in September against the backdrop of a “very serious” terrorist threat.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin asked prefects on Wednesday September 1 to step up security measures in front of synagogues, reports Le Figaro. In a telegram, the minister asked to “increase the security of Jewish places of assembly and worship”.
Suggested security measures included “ensuring maximum physical police presence” in front of synagogues or carrying out “visual checks” of people who gather there. Gérald Darmanin called on the prefectures to organise both a static presence and dynamic patrols around the “most sensitive or emblematic places and buildings”, possibly reinforced by soldiers from the Sentinel unit, reports Le Figaro.This summer, the authorities have repeatedly indicated that the risk of an attack in France remains very high. In early July, the director of the DGSI spoke of a ” highly ” and ” complex ” threat. A few days later, Al-Qaeda circulated a video threatening France. Gérald Darmanin then warned the prefects of the “endogenous” risk, i.e. an attack carried out by someone already in France who responds to this call. September is the month of “Tichri” for Jews, when Rosh Hashanah (New Year), Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Sim’hat Torah are celebrated.