French Rabbi’s House Destroyed in Arson Attack

Fortunately the rabbi and his family were not at home at the time. But as the rabbi’s daughter said, “someone tried to murder my family.” More on the appalling story can be found here.

A rabbi and his family’s apartment in Grenoble, France, was completely destroyed in a suspected arson attack on Saturday, July 5, the rabbi’s daughter told Radio Judaica on Wednesday.

Rabbi Yhia Lahiani and Rebbetzin Batcheva Lahiani had left for a special celebratory meal at the synagogue with the rest of their family when, less than 10 minutes later, three successive explosions were heard in the apartment.There is nothing left of the family’s home.

Their daughter, Sarah Perets Lahiani, told Radio Shalom, “Someone tried to murder my family.”

“Ten minutes before the house exploded, my sister and her baby and my other sister were there,” she said, calling the fact that they were in synagogue and not at home “a miracle.”

It was only by chance that the rabbi’s family escaped being burned alive; ten minutes before the arson attack, two of his daughters and a grandchild were still in the house. One hopes that the charges against the malefactors, once they are found among the Muslims — for of course they were Muslims — living in Grenoble, will include attempted murder.

Perets Lahiani later interviewed with Radio Judaica, saying that authorities continue to call it an “arson attack” as “no one wants to call it antisemitic.”

She added that this “really upsets” the family because “Why else, specifically, would the rabbi’s house be set on fire on a Saturday during mealtime?”

“My personal opinion is that if we say it was antisemitic, we’d have to admit there’s a problem to address,” she noted.

Why are the French authorities so determined not to call an arson attack on the rabbi’s house “antisemitic”? What else could it be? This deliberate mislabeling allows the French authorities to minimize the number and severity of “antisemitic” attacks in the country, and, of course, to minimize the role of the Muslims in France who are behind all of these attacks. For if the Muslims were to be identified as behind yet another, and particularly appalling, “antisemitic” attack, that information could only increase support for the “far-right” party of Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella, and that, of course, would never do.

French President Emmanuel Macron has announced to the world that in September, at the opening of the UN General Assembly, he intends to announce that France will recognize “the state of Palestine.” This promise was greeted with approval both from the Palestinian Authority, that hopes to rule that future state, and by Hamas, that knows it will rule that future state, and will use that state as a launching pad for future attacks on Israel. Meanwhile, Israelis of every persuasion denounced Macron’s announcement, calling it a “betrayal” and an “abandonment of Israel” and accusing Macron of behaving like the Vichy regime, in making an alliance with the “new Nazis” of Hamas. And Donald Trump dismissed it, saying that “what he [Macron] said doesn’t matter.” Others think that it will matter, and not in a good way.

Macron’s craven attempt to win favor with the Muslims of France — now some 10% of the population — will not succeed. The Muslims in France, as elsewhere in Europe, refuse to be integrated into a society built by Infidels, who are “the most vile of created beings.” They know that they must not take Christians or Jews as friends, “for they are friends only with each other.” They are biding their time, knowing that demography is destiny, and that Muslim women in France have fertility rates close to twice that of the indigenous French. They will pocket the win that Macron has just given them, but give him nothing in return. Meanwhile, Macron has pleased the men of Hamas, the same men who on October 7, 2023 raped, tortured, mutilated, and murdered 1,200 Israelis. He has said he will “recognize a state of Palestine,” but has said nothing about just how he intends to persuade Israel to give up territory to which, by history, by the Mandate for Palestine, and by UN Security Resolution 242, the Israelis are entitled to retain. He has said nothing about how he would make sure that this “state of Palestine” is to be “demilitarized.” He has not explained what he thinks will happen to the half-million Israeli Jews who now live in Judea and Samaria, territory that he no doubt thinks will be included in this new “state of Palestine.”