Jewish owners recently sold Paris's Bataclan theater, where IS killed dozens

‘We’re devastated because we knew everyone who worked there,’ says former owner Pascal Laloux

The Bataclan theater, targeted in Friday night’s Paris terror attacks, was Jewish-owned for decades, but was sold two months ago, its former owners said.

French magazine Le Point said early Saturday that the Bataclan, where at least 80 people were massacred by Islamic State gunmen on Friday night, has for years been the target of anti-Zionist groups as the Jewish owners often put on pro-Israel events. The publication quoted a member of the extremist group Army of Islam, who told French security services in 2011 that, “We had planned an attack against the Bataclan because its owners are Jews.”

The Eagles of Death Metal, the band performing at the theater when the attacks began, played in Tel Aviv’s Barby club in July.

Pascal Laloux, one of the theater’s former owners, said Saturday that the theater was “sold in September after 40 years.”

“We’re devastated because we knew everyone who worked there,” he told Israel’s Channel 2 news.

His brother Joel, the co-owner, told Channel 2 that they sold the theater on September 11, and he recently immigrated to Israel. He said he took a call from the theater at the time of the attack “and I could hear the gunfire.”

He also said a member of the Eagles of Death Metal was “hit by a bullet and killed.” There was no confirmation of this. “There is blood everywhere,” he said. “It will take three days just to clean that up.”

Pascal said Parisians no longer feel safe “after what happened here.”

“The terrorists have no rules,” Pascal said. “We have to take the bull by the horns” in the battle against terror, “and France and the government never do.”