Israel says attack on French rabbi ‘intolerable’; Macron offers support

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar expresses shock following reports of an attack on the chief rabbi of Orléans, France.

“This is a vile and intolerable act,” Sa’ar writes in a post on X.

Rabbi Arié Engelberg was physically attacked and subjected to antisemitic slurs by an assailant while walking with his young son in the center of the French city on Saturday evening, according to local media reports.

“The resurgence of antisemitism in France and across Europe is not only alarming — it is a wake-up call to European governments, leaders, and civil society,” Sa’ar adds.

French President Emmanuel Macron also condemns the act in a post on X, writing, “The attack on Rabbi Arié Engelberg in Orléans shocks us all. I offer him, his son, and all our fellow citizens of the Jewish faith my full support and that of the nation… We will not give in to silence or inaction.”