France’s Jewish security community service, the SPCJ, has warned that the terror attacks that took place in Paris on Friday are a “very serious concern” for French Jews.
Following the attack, the group posted on Facebook detailed instructions to community leaders about how to keep their congregations safe.
They told them: “Make sure all congregants are aware of any cancellation” of services, to avoid them waiting outside and “thereby putting them at even greater risk”.
They also said that Friday’s attacks, which left 129 people killed and 350 injured, had required detailed research into people’s schedules. As such, they said it would be best to “break the routine”.
“For example,” they suggested, “shift schedules, and use any emergency doors instead of the main entrance.”
They also advised congregants to avoid taking big bags to synagogues. They explained: “This limits the number of checks to be made by the police or military, which thins the control points and facilitates their work, and therefore the safety of all."
These instructions came following reports that the Bataclan theatre, where a mass shooting killed 89 people on Friday night as one of a series of organised terror attacks, may have been targeted due to its Jewish roots and pro-Israel stance.
The concert venue, which is located in central Paris and until September was owned by a French Jew, Joel Laloux, has received death threats in the past for hosting pro-Israel events.
In October, it was the meeting place for 500 Zionist Christians who came to voice their support for a Jewish state. This followed three consecutive years - between 2006 and 2009 - when it played host to the annual gala of Migdal, a French Jewish charity that raises funs for Israeli border security.
In 2008, approximately 10 men approached the theatre’s security guards, wearing keffiyehs, a symbol of Palestinian nationalism. They were caught on CCTV telling the guards: “This is something we cannot continue to accept.
“You will pay the consequences of your actions. We came here to pass along a small message: be warned. Next time we won’t be coming here to talk."
In 2010, French counterterrorism officers were reportedly informed of a plot by Jaish Islam, Al Qaeda’s branch in Gaza, to organise an attack at the theatre.
Then, in 2011, Le Figaro reported that Farouk Ben Abbes, a Belgian national arrested in Egypt after the terror attack on a group of French students in Cairo, had confessed that he "was planning an attack against the Bataclan in France”.
It also emerged that The Eagles of Death rock pland, which was playing there that night, had recently toured Israel despite protests and calls for them to boycott as part of the BDS movement.
Daesh, otherwise known as Isis, has taken responsibility for the recent attacks, which as well as the shootings at Bataclan saw shootings and bombings take place at a stadium, a restaurant and other areas of the city, leaving 129 people killed and 350 injured.
It is the second major terrorist attack to take place in the country this year, after 12 people were killed in the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in January, and days later four people were killed during a siege on the nearby Jewish supermarket.
Following Friday’s attacks, France’s far-right Jewish Defence League said in a statement: “Pro-Palestinian groups designated it openly as a ‘Zionist’ concert hall, and now we see the result."
