Paris Jewish student group office vandalized with anti-Israel graffiti

Vandals have scrawled anti-Israel and anti-Semitic graffiti and ransacked the offices of a Jewish student group at a Paris university, on the same day that marches are being held around France to protest anti-Semitism.

Sacha Ghozlan, president of the French Jewish Students Union, told The Associated Press that the damage was inflicted Wednesday at the group’s facilities at the Pantheon-Sorbonne campus of the University of Paris.

“Our office was ransacked while the campus is currently occupied by radical left-wing students. A cabinet was thrown on the ground and there were inscriptions such as ‘Death to Israel’, ‘Viva Arafat’ on the wall”, Gozlan says.

A video published on the organization’s Twitter account showed other inscriptions, including “Zionist racist anti-goy office” and “Palestine will prevail.”

Ghozlan said he would file a complaint with Paris police, and urged university officials to “act quickly” to identify the perpetrators.

University president Georges Haddad tweeted his condemnation of “this odious act” and said he would seek an investigation. Minister of Higher Education, Frédérique Vidal, also condemned the anti-Semitic vandalism as “shameful.”

The vandalism came ahead of marches Wednesday in Paris and other cities to resist racism and to honor 85-year-old Mireille Knoll, stabbed to death in what authorities are calling an anti-Semitic attack.