Dozens of anti-Israel activists staged a demonstration on Wednesday in Dieulefit, a southeastern French town recognized as a "Town of the Just" for sheltering Jews during World War II. The protest coincided with the Tour de France peloton passing through the town, Reuters reported.
Demonstrators waved Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) flags, held signs, and chanted slogans such as "Free Palestine" along the race route. A banner reading "Affamer c’est tuer" ("Starving is killing") was prominently displayed. One house was draped in PLO flags.
A protester using a loudspeaker accused Sylvan Adams, co-owner of the Israel-Premier Tech cycling team, of representing "a genocidal army," and called for the team's removal from the race.
The Israel-Premier Tech team responded in a statement: "Israel-Premier Tech respects everyone’s right to free speech which includes the right to protest. Our focus is on racing and we continue to work closely with race organisers and relevant parties to ensure that any protests do not jeopardise team members’ safety, nor impact races, or our right to participate."
The team has been provided with additional security, including police presence near their bus and escorts during public events.
Wednesday’s incident comes a week after a man was arrested in Toulouse after running onto the race course wearing a T-shirt reading "Israel out of the Tour" and waving a black and white keffiyeh. He is set to stand trial for endangering riders and refusing to provide identification.
France has seen a sharp rise in antisemitism since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 massacre in Israel and the war in Gaza which followed.
At the start of June, French Rabbi Elie Lemmel revealed he had been attacked twice within a single week.
According to testimonies brought forward during a recent Knesset discussion, antisemitic incidents in France have surged by a whopping 185%.
In late May, four sites connected to the Jewish community were vandalized in the Marais district of central Paris.
The sites included a Holocaust memorial, the Tournelles Synagogue, the "Chez Marianne" restaurant, and the Agoudath HaKehilot Synagogue; all were defaced with green paint.
A month prior, a 70-year-old Jewish man was brutally attacked in the town of Anduze, near Alès in France.
The elderly man, wearing a kippah and tzitzit, was feeding cats in the street when a drunk man approached him, demanding money. When the victim refused, the attacker punched and kicked him, while calling him a "dirty Jew" repeatedly, eyewitnesses said.