(Jewish Group) France's tiny Jewish minority targeted in majority of racist incidents in 2019

Most of the racist hate crimes documented in France last year were anti-Semitic incidents directed at Jews — who make up less than one percent of the country’s population.

The French interior ministry published the data Sunday in a report that counted 687 anti-Semitic incidents last year out of a total of 1,142 racist hate crimes. The 2019 figure for anti-Semitic incidents constitute an increase of almost 27 percent from 541 such cases documented in 2018, AFP reported.

Of the anti-Semitic cases documented in 2019, threats accounted for 536 incidents and the remaining 151 were defined as “acts” – instances of assault against Jews or vandalism of their property.

Attacks and threats against Muslims numbered 154, a 54-percent increase over such cases in 2018. Muslims account for about nine percent of France’s population of about 65 million. France also has about half a million Jews.

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