Teenage Muslim girls were planning a suicide attack on a French synagogue.
According to various sources, two teen age Muslim girls, 17 and 15, may have been planning a suicide attack on the Great Synagogue in Lyons, Central France. Europe 1, a mainstream radio station, broke the news during its early morning program on August 29. More information was released on the same day by the Israeli French-language website JSS News.
The girls were apparently arrested by the French police on August 19 and charged for criminal and terrorist conspiracy on August 22. One is from Venissieux, a surburb of Lyons (France’s second largest city) ; the other one from Tarbes, in the Eastern Pyreneans. They never met in the flesh but exchanged e-mails. It seems that a third party – possibly a jihadist recruiting network – was also involved.
France’s 5 to 6 million Muslim community is seen as a prime reservoir for jihadist terrorist activities. Most young French Muslims were born in the country, are French citizens, speak French fluently, are familiar with the European cultural codes and carry European Union passports. As such they can travel and operate much more freely than citizens from Muslim countries, or pass as non-Muslims if needed.
The police authorities have neither confirmed nor denied, so far, the two girls case.
There are however many instances of teen age girls beeing recruited for terrorist purposes. According to the French Interior ministry, a 14 years old girl was arrested on August 27 in Quimper, Britanny, for similar reasons. And a 22 years old man from Chechnia, presumably a jihadist activist, was arrested last Saturday at Nice International Airport on the French Riviera just after having bought a plane ticket to Turkey for an unrelated 16 years old girl.
Richard Wertenschlag, the Chief Rabbi of Lyons, says the police has warned him of potential anti-Jewish violence. He points to the many anti-Israel rallies that have been staged in the Lyons area over the past two months : « There is one demonstration every Wednesday afternoon and every Saturday afternoon. Incitement to anti-Jewish violence and even murder, with slogans like ‘Death to Zionists’, is a frequent occurence. »
While most demonstrators seem to be Muslim, they enjoy widespread support from at least some of Lyons leftwing eldermen. « The fact that Nathalie Perrin-Gilbert, the leftwing mayor of the city’s 1st district, halfmasted the French flag for three days in mourning of ‘Gaza’s murdered children’ was certainly not helpful », Wertenschlag told The Jewish Chronicle.
© Michel Gurfinkiel & The Jewish Chronicle, 2014
Michel Gurfinkiel is the Founder and President of the Jean-Jacques Rousseau Institute, a conservative think-thank in France, and a Shillman/Ginsburg Fellow at Middle East Forum.