Swastikas Painted On 80 Jewish Graves in France

Some 80 Jewish graves were vandalized with swastikas at a cemetery in eastern France.

The incident was discovered in the village of Quatzenheim Tuesday.

Town hall officials told the franceinfo website the vandalism occurred overnight.

Jean-Luc Marx, a top security official, said in a statement that he condemns "in the strongest possible terms this awful anti-Semitic act and sends his complete support to the Jewish community which has been targeted again."

The attack happened hours before nationwide marches against the rise in violent anti-Semitic attacks against local Jewish communities.

Political leaders called for the rallies after a video surfaced of an anti-Semite calling philosopher Alain Finkielkraut a "dirty Zionist" and telling him that "France belongs to us."

France has seen a flare of anti-Semitism in recent weeks.

Last Monday, French authorities found swastikas and anti-Semitic slurs painted on mailboxes displaying the portraits of French politician and Holocaust survivor, Simone Veil.

Anti-Semites also cut down a tree planted in memory of a Jewish man who was tortured to death in 2006.

Last Sunday, vandals spray painted the word "Juden" (German for Jew) on a Bagelstein bagel shop

Interior Minister Christophe Castaner recently announced that anti-Semitic attacks in France increased by 74 percent in 2018.

"Anti-Semitism is spreading like poison," the minister said.

He said the total number of recorded anti-Semitic acts rose to 541 in 2018 from 311 in 2017.