Two adolescent boys in a Paris suburb have been given preliminary charges of raping a 12-year-old girl and religion-motivated violence, French authorities said Wednesday.
The incident has sparked a widespread outcry in France as the country contends with rising antisemitism since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, and has inflamed accusations of antisemitism ahead of contentious elections set for June 30 and July 7.
The prosecutor’s office for Nanterre, the western suburb of Paris that launched the investigation into the alleged attack, did not specify the girl’s religion or release her identity in order to protect the victim, in line with standard practice for hate crimes in France.
However, lawyer and Jewish leader Elie Korchia said in an interview with French broadcaster BFM that the girl is Jewish, and leaders from across France’s political spectrum have condemned what they describe as an act of antisemitism.
Antisemitic acts surged in France immediately following Oct. 7, when Hamas attacked southern Israel, sparking the war in Gaza.
Police in Courbevoie, where the alleged rape was reported, did not provide further information or confirmation of the details of the attack, or the identities of the accuser or suspects when contacted by NBC News.
The girl reported a rape on Saturday, and three boys, ages 12 and 13, were detained, according to the Nanterre prosecutor’s office.
It said two of the boys were given multiple preliminary charges on Tuesday, including aggravated gang rape on a minor younger than 15, violence and public insult motivated by religion, death threats, attempted extortion and unlawfully recording or broadcasting sexual images.
The two boys are being held in custody pending further investigation, the prosecutor’s office said. The third boy was named as an assisted witness to the alleged rape, and placed in a special education program. The prosecutor’s office said the three boys “expressed regret towards the victim without addressing their involvement.”
Political leaders across the spectrum denounced the alleged attack and called for a swift response.
On X, French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal expressed “horror and outrage at this monstrous and despicable act” and affirmed a “determination to fight, unceasingly, without counting the cost, against antisemitism.”
In a press conference on Thursday, Attal said, “We’ve seen a form of unbridled antisemitism develop and break free. And I think that political leaders and political parties have a responsibility to put up barriers, to prevent a certain amount of rhetoric from becoming commonplace.”
President Emmanuel Macron asked schools to hold a “discussion hour” on racism and antisemitism this week.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin described the alleged attack as “awful” and said police were limited in their ability to prevent such violence. “It’s a problem of the parents … of authority. It’s a problem of society as a whole,” he said on BFM television.
France is in the midst of a blitz campaign for snap parliamentary elections, and the front-runner, the far-right National Rally party, has sought to make security and immigration key campaign issues.
National Rally leader Jordan Bardella said France must fight an “antisemitic atmosphere” present in the country since the start of the war in Gaza, using outrage against the alleged attack as a springboard for his campaign priority of “the restoration of authority and order on every square meter of the territory.”
Opponents have accused the National Rally and the hard-left France Unbowed party within the Popular Front alliance of tolerating antisemitic views in their ranks, allegations both parties deny.
“Horrified by this rape in Courbevoie and all that it brings to light concerning the conditioning of male criminal behavior from an early age, and antisemitic racism,” Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of France Unbowed, posted on X, asking that “we don’t turn this crime and the suffering it causes into a media circus.”
France Unbowed is the most vocal critic of Israel’s war in Gaza and has drawn accusations of antisemitism, including from Attal, the centrist prime minister, and Marine Le Pen, a far-right former presidential candidate.
“The stigmatization of Jews over the past months by the extreme left, using the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as an instrument, is a real threat to civil peace,” Le Pen said on X, tying her accusations to the upcoming elections.
On Wednesday evening, hundreds of people gathered in front of Paris City Hall to protest antisemitism. Many in the crowd were holding placards, including some bearing the slogan “raped because she’s Jewish.”
