[Breitbart] Per our history lessons the other day French President Emmanuel Macron has been forced to an embarrassing backtrack after falsely claiming that the shootings in Trappes were the first time that the country had experienced a terror attack over race or religion.
On Friday, six people were shot, leading to the death of one man and leaving a 12-year-old girl injured, in the multicultural Paris suburb of Trappes. The suspected attacker, only identified publicly as "Kevin T.", was arrested shortly after the shootings while possessing an antique Sten MK II automatic gun, tear gas canisters, and cocaine.
The attack was immediately characterised by some as being motivated by race and religion, with Trappes Mayor Ali Rabeh claiming Friday afternoon that his city had "witnessed a racist attack, probably Islamophobic".
Speaking to the press from Trappes, President Emmanuel Macron asserted that the attack was a "turning point" for France, claiming that "this is the first time there has been a planned terrorist act to kill our fellow citizens, our children, because of their skin colour or the religion they are given".
This claim faced immediate and swift pushback on social media, with users and politicians citing numerous instances of Islamic terrorists killing people because of their religion, particularly those of Jewish and Christian faith.
Examples of this included the 2012 antisemitic attack against the Ozar Hatorah Jewish school in Toulouse by Mohamed Merah, who brutally murdered three children and a father, Jonathan Sandler, his sons Arié and Gabriel, and young girl Myriam Monsonego, Le Figaro reported. The French paper of record also pointed to the 2015 hostage situation at the Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket in Paris during which Malian-heritage Muslim Amedy Coulibaly killed five people and injured 11 more.
The Catholic community in France has also come under frequent attack, including the 2016 jihadi killing of Father Jacques Hamel at the church of Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray in Normandy by two ISIS supporters, Adel Kermiche and Abdel Malik Petitjean. In 2020, a Tunisian Muslim, Brahim Aouissaoui, stabbed three people to death at the Catholic basilica of Notre-Dame de Nice.
In response to President Macron’s false claim, National Rally leader Jordan Bardella said: "This ignoble attack, of exceptional gravity, shocks the entire country and calls for an implacable judicial response.
"But alas, contrary to what you declare, this is not ’the first time’ that French people have been targeted and killed, in the context of a planned terrorist operation, ’on account of their skin colour or their religion": your eminent position requires you not to forget the Jewish victims of the Ozar Hatorah school in Toulouse or of the Hyper Cacher, Father Hamel murdered in his church, the Catholic faithful of the Notre-Dame Basilica in Nice, and all the other innocent victims."
French MEP and leader of the Identity—Liberties party Marion Maréchal added: "Don’t the little Jewish children of the Ozar Hatorah school, shot at close range by Mohammed Merah, matter to you, Mr. President? And Father Hamel? And the Nice basilica?
"Today’s horror must not overshadow that of yesterday."
Mayor of Nice, Éric Ciotti, said that the attack in Trappes was "abhorrent and must be denounced by all with force" but said that President Macron’s comments represented a "historic and grave mistake."
Such statements are unworthy and abhorrent... This mediocre attempt at political recovery of a racist attack definitively discredits a President who will have damaged and divided France. Let him finally go!"
Following the steep backlash, Macron was forced to walk back his assertion, albeit without acknowledging his initial mistake, admitting that there have been "attacks that have struck Christians because they were Christians and Jews because they were Jews... None of these victims should be forgotten. No pain should be ranked."
Related:
Emmanuel Macron 10/24/2026 Deadly shooting near Paris is a 'racist terrorist attack', Macron says
Emmanuel Macron 10/23/2026 France bans protests in major cities as authorities brace for new unrest
Emmanuel Macron 10/22/2026 President Trump Sends a Timely Warning to Americans as France Burns
Emmanuel Macron 10/24/2026 Deadly shooting near Paris is a 'racist terrorist attack', Macron says
Emmanuel Macron 10/23/2026 France bans protests in major cities as authorities brace for new unrest
Emmanuel Macron 10/22/2026 President Trump Sends a Timely Warning to Americans as France Burns
Related:
Trappes: 2026-10-24 Deadly shooting near Paris is a 'racist terrorist attack', Macron says
Trappes: 2021-04-24 President Macron vows to 'never give up the fight against Islamist terorrism' after knifeman screaming 'Allahu Akbar' stabs woman to death before being shot dead by cops at French police station
Trappes: 2021-02-21 Three Jihadists Sentenced for Plotting Paris Terrorist Attack
Trappes: 2026-10-24 Deadly shooting near Paris is a 'racist terrorist attack', Macron says
Trappes: 2021-04-24 President Macron vows to 'never give up the fight against Islamist terorrism' after knifeman screaming 'Allahu Akbar' stabs woman to death before being shot dead by cops at French police station
Trappes: 2021-02-21 Three Jihadists Sentenced for Plotting Paris Terrorist Attack
Related:
Mohamed Merah 10/09/2026 Clashes between schoolchildren and security forces began in the Place de la Bastille.
Mohamed Merah 07/27/2016 Normandy: Jihadist Mosque Next Door to Beheaded Priest’s Church
Mohamed Merah 05/19/2013 France Detains Suspect In Toulouse Killings Investigation
Mohamed Merah 10/09/2026 Clashes between schoolchildren and security forces began in the Place de la Bastille.
Mohamed Merah 07/27/2016 Normandy: Jihadist Mosque Next Door to Beheaded Priest’s Church
Mohamed Merah 05/19/2013 France Detains Suspect In Toulouse Killings Investigation
Related:
Hyper Cacher: 2025-03-22 Paris kosher supermarket that was scene of deadly 2015 terror attack damaged by arson, Jew-hate in Switzerland hits new high
Hyper Cacher: 2025-01-05 Charlie Hebdo to mark 10 years since terror attack with special God-mocking edition
Hyper Cacher: 2022-10-21 Accomplice in Charlie Hebdo, kosher market attacks sentenced to life on appeal
Hyper Cacher: 2025-03-22 Paris kosher supermarket that was scene of deadly 2015 terror attack damaged by arson, Jew-hate in Switzerland hits new high
Hyper Cacher: 2025-01-05 Charlie Hebdo to mark 10 years since terror attack with special God-mocking edition
Hyper Cacher: 2022-10-21 Accomplice in Charlie Hebdo, kosher market attacks sentenced to life on appeal
Related:
Amedy Coulibaly 03/22/2025 Paris kosher supermarket that was scene of deadly 2015 terror attack damaged by arson, Jew-hate in Switzerland hits new high
Amedy Coulibaly 10/21/2022 Accomplice in Charlie Hebdo, kosher market attacks sentenced to life on appeal
Amedy Coulibaly 12/18/2020 Paris court convicts 4 for Charlie Hebdo, kosher store terror attacks
Amedy Coulibaly 03/22/2025 Paris kosher supermarket that was scene of deadly 2015 terror attack damaged by arson, Jew-hate in Switzerland hits new high
Amedy Coulibaly 10/21/2022 Accomplice in Charlie Hebdo, kosher market attacks sentenced to life on appeal
Amedy Coulibaly 12/18/2020 Paris court convicts 4 for Charlie Hebdo, kosher store terror attacks
Related:
Jacques Hamel 03/14/2022 Four Jailed Over 2016 Islamist Killing of French Catholic Priest During Mass
Jacques Hamel 02/15/2022 Four go on trial over jihadist murder of 85-year-old French priest
Jacques Hamel 04/11/2019 French Priest Killed by Islamists Takes Step towards Sainthood
Jacques Hamel 03/14/2022 Four Jailed Over 2016 Islamist Killing of French Catholic Priest During Mass
Jacques Hamel 02/15/2022 Four go on trial over jihadist murder of 85-year-old French priest
Jacques Hamel 04/11/2019 French Priest Killed by Islamists Takes Step towards Sainthood
Related:
Ozar Hatorah 02/11/2023 Man charged with making threats against French Jewish school, site of 2012 shooting
Ozar Hatorah 11/03/2017 Brother of French Jewish school shooter gets 20 years for terror ties
Ozar Hatorah 05/18/2013 Suspected Merah Accomplices Arrested In Toulouse
Ozar Hatorah 02/11/2023 Man charged with making threats against French Jewish school, site of 2012 shooting
Ozar Hatorah 11/03/2017 Brother of French Jewish school shooter gets 20 years for terror ties
Ozar Hatorah 05/18/2013 Suspected Merah Accomplices Arrested In Toulouse