Macron says Trappes shooting targeted migrants and was France’s first terror attack aimed at a group for its skin and religion; earlier attacks are cited

Macron said today’s shooting in Trappes targeted migrants and described it as the first terror attack in French history against a group targeted because of its skin and religion.

That characterization was challenged with examples of earlier Islamist attacks in France against Jews or Christians. In 2012, Mohammed Merah attacked a Jewish school in Toulouse, killing a rabbi and three children. In 2015, Amedy Coulibaly killed four Jews at the Hypercacher kosher supermarket in Paris.

In 2016, Adel Kermiche and Abdel Malik Petitjean stormed a church in Normandy, killing 85-year-old priest Jacques Hamel by slitting his throat and critically wounding an 86-year-old man. In 2020, Brahim Aouissaoui stormed a Catholic basilica in Nice and stabbed three people to death.