French authorities have launched an investigation after a disturbing video surfaced showing a man harassing a young Jewish boy at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, ordering him to “free Palestine” and “dance,” according to a judicial source quoted by AFP on Tuesday.
Paris police chief Patrice Faure condemned the “unacceptable and intolerable remarks,” declaring on X that they “will not go unpunished.”
Faure confirmed that an investigation was underway to identify the suspect and bring him to justice. “We express our support for our Jewish compatriots and assure them of our full commitment to combating antisemitic acts,” he added, posting an image from the footage.
The Bobigny public prosecutor’s office said an investigation had been opened into “violence committed on the grounds of race, ethnicity, nationality or religion.”
The video, posted Sunday by the SwordOfSalomon account on X, has been viewed over 440,000 times. It reportedly shows a man approaching a Jewish boy - his face pixelated - as he plays a video game in the airport. The assailant takes the child’s toy and says in English, “Are you gonna free Palestine, bro? If you don’t free them, I’ll snatch your hat off, bro,” referring to the boy’s kippah.
The man then taunts the child in broken French, repeatedly saying “dance, cachou” - apparently a mispronunciation of cochon (“pig”) - as the confused boy dances nervously. The account that posted the footage claimed that the man targeted two Jewish children, including a seven-year-old.
Jewish organizations have reported a sharp rise in antisemitic attacks in France following Hamas’ October 7, 2023 massacre in Israel, and the ensuing war in Gaza.
Yonathan Arfi, president of CRIF - the umbrella body of French Jewish institutions - called the airport incident “yet another illustration of the climate of antisemitism that has prevailed in Europe” since those attacks. He said he was struck by “the unbridled, uninhibited nature of the antisemitism.”