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Paul Amar Says Marseille Rioters Targeted Jewish-Owned Shops

French journalist Paul Amar says rioters burned Jewish-owned shops on a Marseille street and spared Muslim-run ones. Officials have not confirmed it.

ByPeter Peters
Marseille's 17th-century city hall lit up at night, with concrete barriers on the empty square in front
Marseille city hall (Hôtel de Ville). Photo by Rafael Lemieszek, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

MARSEILLE, 18 October 2026 – French journalist Paul Amar said on Sunday that rioters in Marseille set fire to every Jewish-owned business on one city street while sparing shops run by Muslims. He made the claim live on CNews, the day after the 17 October cost-of-living protests ended in looting across the city centre. As of Sunday afternoon in France, no police, prosecutor, ministry or Jewish community statement had confirmed it, and the head of Marseille’s main Jewish umbrella body said Jews did not appear to have been singled out.

Our France Protest Tracker follows each national protest day, and our France protests update covers the earlier student marches. This report covers one claim from the aftermath and what can be checked so far.

What Paul Amar said

Amar, a veteran French television journalist, spoke in a CNews segment broadcast at about 11:40 a.m. Paris time (5:40 a.m. ET). A 36-second excerpt, posted on X by Jérémy Benhaïm, an activist who campaigns against antisemitism, had drawn more than 120,000 views by 9 a.m. ET. Peter’s World transcribed the clip from its audio. In French, Amar said:

« Mais il y a un degré de préparation de cette journée qui est absolument important. […] Ils avaient les adresses, pardonnez-moi, je vais vous donner quelques informations, de pas mal de commerçants juifs dans une rue de Marseille. Je l’ai appris ce matin, tous les commerces détenus par des juifs ont été incendiés. Les commerces tenus par les musulmans ne l’ont pas été. Il y a un degré de préparation qui pose question. »

Our translation: “But there was a degree of preparation for this day that is absolutely significant. […] They had the addresses, forgive me, I’ll give you some information, of quite a few Jewish shopkeepers on a street in Marseille. I learned it this morning: all the businesses owned by Jews were set on fire. The businesses run by Muslims were not. There is a degree of preparation that raises questions.”

In the omitted lines, Amar said the rioters also had the addresses of prefectures and of a prefect “whose residence was set on fire.”

Amar did not name the street, the businesses or where his information came from. In the clip, he did not say how many shops were involved or who he believed had compiled the addresses. Retellings on X have stretched the claim. The first widely shared post said “all the Jewish shops in Marseille” were vandalised, while Amar spoke of one street. Other accounts quote him as saying “They came prepared. They had the addresses of town halls,” words that do not match the audio.

What is confirmed about Marseille

The looting itself is well documented. Bouches-du-Rhône Prefect Jacques Witkowski said on Saturday evening that police faced “between 7,000 and 8,000 looters and rioters” and that “at least 30 to 40 shops” in the city centre had been looted, Le Figaro and AFP reported. Looters also tried to break into a gun shop. He reported 29 injured officers, two of them seriously.

Reporters on the ground described the damage as widespread rather than selective. An AFP journalist saw dozens of people briefly force their way into city hall, and the local outlet Maritima said shops of “all types” were hit between the prefecture and the Old Port, from luxury boutiques to bakeries. On Sunday, the head of a city-centre traders’ group, Guillaume Sicard, estimated that almost one shop in two on the main streets had been looted, ICI Provence reported. Named targets in local reports include Hermès, Rolex, Lacoste, SFR, Fnac and the Centre Bourse mall. Benoît Payan, Marseille’s mayor, has asked the government for an emergency compensation plan for shopkeepers and residents.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez blamed “several thousand individuals from the ultra-left” for the violence in Marseille, saying they were “joined by delinquents who looted and ransacked many shops,” La Provence and AFP reported. He said about 2,000 people had been arrested nationwide and that he would visit Marseille on Monday.

What is not confirmed

None of the official statements reviewed for this article mentions Jewish-owned businesses or any antisemitic motive in Marseille. Those include the prefect’s briefing, Nuñez’s posts and the mayor’s remarks. Peter’s World found no announcement from the Marseille prosecutor of an investigation into antisemitic targeting. We also found no statement on the claim from the Consistoire of Marseille, and none of the outlets reviewed reported fires at Jewish-owned shops.

The closest thing to a response came from Bruno Benjamin, president of CRIF Marseille-Provence, the local branch of France’s main Jewish umbrella group. He told JNS on Sunday that Jews did not appear to have been singled out for violence or targeted physically in Marseille’s riots. He also called for a state of emergency, saying the unrest was being organised by the far left. JNS did not report whether Benjamin was asked about shops specifically.

In a separate incident in Paris, early reports of an antisemitic attack have also been met with caution. A small synagogue in the 19th arrondissement was ransacked on Saturday night. CRIF executive director Robert Ejnes told JNS that so far “nothing indicates that this was an antisemitic attack. It may have been a robbery,” and a congregant said the Torah scrolls were untouched.

What it means

Peter’s World analysis, based on the sources cited above.

Amar’s account is a serious allegation from a well-known broadcaster, but on the record it rests on information he said he received that morning from a source he did not name. A pattern of ownership-based targeting would be checkable: shop owners would have filed police complaints, insurers would hold claims, and community security groups would have logged the incidents. If it is true, those records should surface within days. If it is not, the claim has already reached a large audience on X without confirmation.

What to watch: whether the Marseille prosecutor opens a case with an antisemitic aggravating circumstance; whether CRIF Marseille-Provence or the Consistoire comments on shops specifically; Nuñez’s visit to Marseille on Monday; and whether Amar names the street or his source.

Sources

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