Irish man arrested in France for threatening Jewish couple, supporting Nazi Holocaust

French police arrested an Irish national who was filmed threatening a Jewish couple and lamenting Hitler “didn’t finish the job.”

By World Israel News Staff

French police have arrested an Irish man accused of threatening to shoot a Jewish Australian tourist after telling her and her husband that he regretted Adolf Hitler had not completed the extermination of Europe’s Jews.

The suspect, an Irish citizen in his 60s, was arrested Wednesday in Avignon following an investigation into the confrontation, which occurred earlier this month at a supermarket in Le Pontet, just outside the southern French city.

Video of the incident circulated widely online and prompted condemnations from senior French government officials.

The confrontation began as an apparently friendly conversation between the Irish man and the Australian couple over sports, according to an account provided by the woman involved.

The suspect reportedly approached after noticing that the woman’s husband was wearing a French team’s shirt and jokingly asked why an Englishman was wearing French colors. The husband explained that he was Australian, and the parties introduced themselves and briefly discussed Irish football.

The conversation changed after the woman raised Ireland’s policies toward Israel and accused the Irish government of supporting Hamas and Hezbollah.

According to the couple, the man’s demeanor immediately became hostile.

“We all agree with that. And I’m sorry Hitler didn’t finish the job,” the woman recalled him saying.

The alleged Holocaust remark itself was not captured on video. The woman began recording immediately afterward and repeatedly challenged the man to repeat what he had said.

The recording does capture the suspect turning toward the couple and issuing an explicit threat.

“You get the fuck away from me before I put a fucking bullet in your head, okay?” he says in the footage.

The couple, whose identities have not been made public, contacted the Australian Jewish Association following the encounter.

AJA President Robert Gregory said the incident demonstrated the risks Jewish travelers continue to face amid a broader surge in antisemitic incidents.

“Every threat of antisemitic violence must be taken seriously,” Gregory said, calling for authorities to investigate and take action.

French officials responded publicly after the footage spread across social media.

Equality Minister Aurore Bergé and Commerce and Tourism Minister Serge Papin issued a joint condemnation on August 13, describing the episode as displaying a level of violence that was “chilling and unacceptable.”

“Such remarks, which explicitly invoke the memory of the Holocaust, must not be dismissed or tolerated,” Bergé said.

The Jewish Observatory of France also filed a criminal complaint over the incident, asking prosecutors to establish the circumstances of the confrontation, identify the person responsible and preserve evidence.

The investigation was handled by the Marseille gendarmerie’s research section together with investigators in Avignon.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez praised police following Wednesday’s arrest.

“A suspect was able to be apprehended and will answer for his actions,” Nuñez said.

“Antisemitism must be fought firmly and relentlessly,” he added.

The suspect could face charges involving antisemitic threats and hate speech. French reports said offenses under consideration could carry a sentence of up to five years in prison and a fine of as much as €45,000.

The incident comes amid heightened concern over antisemitism in France and a series of confrontations involving Jewish tourists elsewhere in the country.

Only days after the supermarket video emerged, French authorities opened a separate investigation after a business owner at the Les Deux Alpes resort in southeastern France was filmed telling a Jewish customer that there were “too many Jews.”

French officials condemned that incident as well, with Bergé declaring that antisemitic and racist acts would not be tolerated.