Since the start of the 2025 academic year, French universities have reported around ten antisemitic incidents, reflecting a troubling rise in hostility towards Jewish students across campuses.
These cases, which have occurred in Paris, Lyon and Strasbourg, reveal a pattern in which antisemitic rhetoric, extremist slogans and targeted harassment are increasingly appearing both online and within lecture halls.
The most high-profile incident took place at Paris-VIII Vincennes–Saint-Denis University, where approximately two hundred students applauded Hamas during an “anti-imperialist meeting”. When a speaker asked whether those present condemned the 7 October attacks, the audience responded with a resounding “No!”, prompting the General Inspectorate for Education to launch an inquiry into the events and the responsibilities involved.
At Sorbonne University’s Faculty of Health, a lecture was abruptly halted after racist and explicitly pro-Nazi comments—among them “Hitler”, “Jews” and “Free Maurice Papon”—suddenly appeared on Wooclap, a digital tool used during teaching. The lecture theatre was evacuated and disciplinary procedures have been initiated. This followed an earlier episode at Sorbonne University in which “very serious, insulting and antisemitic” comments were discovered on student WhatsApp groups at the end of September.
In Lyon, first-year law students at Lyon-III Jean Moulin University encountered a poll on Instagram entitled “Who likes Jews?”, reported by the Union of Jewish Students of France. Similarly, at Paris-III, a group styling itself “Comité Action Paris 3” published on X a message commemorating the “glorious” events of 7 October 2023 and retweeted praise for the founder of Hamas. The university’s president immediately condemned the posts as both antisemitic and as glorifying terrorism.
Sciences Po Strasbourg also reported an incident to prosecutors after discovering graffiti at the entrance of its building reading “Glory to Hamas”, “Long live Hamas”, “Death to the settlers” and “Free Palestine”. The institute filed a complaint for damage, antisemitism and threats. Paris-I Panthéon-Sorbonne University referred two further events to the authorities: Jewish first-year economics students were removed from an Instagram discussion group on the grounds of “supposed Zionism”, and shortly beforehand a WhatsApp poll in the same cohort had asked “Jews — for or against?”. The author of the poll was later found not to belong to the university and had joined via a TikTok link.
A final case emerged in Lyon following a Facebook post by a medieval history professor at Lyon-II Lumière University, who labelled twenty Jewish or allegedly Jewish public figures—including well-known actors and television personalities—as “genocidaires to be boycotted under all circumstances”. Prosecutors have since opened an investigation.
These incidents collectively point to deeper trends: the widespread use of digital platforms to disseminate antisemitic messages, the normalisation of extremist language including praise for Hamas or Nazism, and the targeting of young students who have only just begun their university studies.
According to the minister for higher education, such acts stem from “new themes of radical activism” that often manifest as antisemitism directed at Jewish students or, at times, as glorification of terrorism. He emphasised that the problem does not originate within universities themselves, noting that “the issue is far deeper” than campus life alone.
