A group of seven French Jewish tourists was surrounded, spat on, and subjected to 40 minutes of antisemitic abuse by a crowd in Barcelona last month, an ordeal that left the victims fearing for their lives.
Jimmy Zaghroun, a 41-year-old French Jew from Paris, recalled the harrowing encounter in an interview with the French news channel CNEWS on Sunday. Zaghroun described how he and six friends were targeted after leaving a synagogue in the city’s port area on the night of July 3.
He said that the incident began when a woman, noticeably dressed in pro-Palestinian attire, including a keffiyeh and a Palestinian flag, started shouting “Free Palestine” at the group. Her actions, which Zaghroun described as rhythmic clapping and gesturing like a fan in a stadium, quickly mobilized a surrounding crowd.
Within minutes, the group of seven Jews was encircled by hundreds of people. The initial protests escalated into overt and aggressive antisemitic rhetoric. Zaghroun described the atmosphere as terrifying: “For 40 minutes, hundreds of people humiliated us and spat on us. There was a huge crowd around us. We feared we would be murdered. It was very scary.”
The harassment continued with the crowd shouting various antisemitic and anti-Israel slogans, he said, including “Baby killers,” “Jews are not wanted here,” “Zionists are not wanted here,” “Death to Israel,” and threats directed at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Zaghroun said that some individuals within the crowd explicitly threatened, “We are going to kill Jews.”
Assailants didn’t care that group wasn’t from Israel
He added that despite his attempts to de-escalate the situation by explaining in French that he and his companions were from France and not Israel, the assailants continued their abuse, appearing indifferent to the group’s nationality.
Zaghroun pointed out that one member of the group, a member of the Chabad movement, wearing traditional Jewish clothing, including a long coat and a black kippah, served as a particularly visible target during the encounter.
Recognizing that they were in grave danger, Zaghroun said the group eventually split up, in an attempt to escape the crowd’s encirclement. They ultimately managed to flee to their hotel, with the mob pursuing them as far as the building’s entrance, he said in his testimony.
Zaghroun, a Parisian of Spanish-Tunisian descent, emphasized that the attack was motivated solely by their Jewish identity.
The incident has been noted by the Federation of Jewish Communities in Spain. The federation noted that if the accounts were confirmed, “this would be one of the most serious episodes of antisemitic harassment recorded in Barcelona in recent years.”
Zaghroun has filed a formal complaint in France, and Spanish authorities have confirmed that they are investigating the incident.
