French intelligence warns of rising Islamist attacks against Christians

Police outside the Notre-Dame-de-l’Assomption church in Nice after the Islamist terrorist attack that claimed three lives on October 29, 2020. Photo: Le Figaro

In November 2025, France’s domestic intelligence service (DGSI) reported an escalating threat to Christian communities across Europe. As Le Figaro writes, a confidential DGSI report reviews the recent wave of attacks and highlights systematic jihadist propaganda targeting churches and believers.

The DGSI statement followed the September 10 assault in Lyon on Ashur Sarnayu, an Iraqi Christian confined to a wheelchair. Investigators believe the crime reflects a longstanding fixation of Islamist groups on striking Christians, whom radical organizations label “infidels” and “idol-worshippers.”

According to DGSI, anti-Christian rhetoric has been cultivated for decades: jihadist ideologues portray Christians as “crusaders,” linking modern Europe with the Crusades, colonial history, and Western military interventions. Such calls have appeared in Osama bin Laden’s fatwas and in ISIS propaganda, which vowed to “break the crosses” and attack churches.

The intelligence service notes that ideological hatred regularly turns into real-world violence. From the murders of clergy in Algeria and Pakistan to the execution of 21 Coptic Christians in Libya in 2015, the record of attacks shows the persistent pressure on Christian communities. Europe, too, has faced a series of terrorist acts – including the killing of Father Jacques Hamel in France in 2016 and the 2020 attack in Nice.

The Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians reports a rise in anti-Christian violence across the continent. In Germany alone, 337 such crimes were recorded in 2024, including dozens of church arsons. In France, a string of attacks on parishes and historic churches further confirms the growing threat and, according to DGSI, the need for heightened protection of Christians.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that French authorities uncovered a group of Islamist women planning terrorist attacks in Paris.

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