French ministers condemn antisemitic remarks by buvette owner at Les Deux Alpes, investigation opened

Viral video at Les Deux Alpes

A video posted on Friday 14 August on X by the account "Jugé coupable," which describes itself as fighting online hate, captured an exchange between the owner of a buvette (snack bar) and a customer at the Les Deux Alpes mountain station in Isère. The woman tells the customer that "the Jewish community, you are too numerous" and that "at some point, it overwhelms people." When the customer asks "So what?", a woman nearby defends the buvette owner, saying "It's her business, she does what she wants, it's her chairs and her tables." The customer counters that there are laws against discrimination based on religion, to which the buvette owner responds "Then distort things" before being interrupted. The video, branded with the label "Balance ton antisémite," surpassed 790,000 views by around 18:30 on Saturday and exceeded 870,000 views later that evening, according to Mediapart. Le Parisien reported more than 660,000 views earlier in the day.

Government response

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez announced on X on Saturday 15 August that the national gendarmerie had opened an investigation in coordination with the prosecutor's office.

The person concerned will have to answer for the remarks made, which I firmly condemn, and which have no place in our Republic.

Aurore Bergé, Minister for the Fight Against Discrimination, issued a separate statement on X, declaring that no antisemitic act could be tolerated and that "antisemitism and racism are not opinions but offences." Bergé said she had asked the prefect of Isère to immediately file a report to the public prosecutor under Article 40 of the French code of criminal procedure. She added that she would "systematically intervene to let nothing pass and to recall our law and our values."

No antisemitic act, no racist act, no act of hatred could be tolerated.

Legal proceedings

The Grenoble prosecutor's office confirmed on Saturday evening that an investigation had been opened for "public provocation of hatred or violence based on origin or religion," assigned to the gendarmerie brigade of Les Deux Alpes. The suspect was heard on Saturday afternoon and "recognized the remarks made, explaining the context in which they were pronounced," the prosecutor's office said in a statement. No decision had been taken at the conclusion of her hearing, "insofar as witnesses still need to be heard." Bergé had earlier indicated that the buvette owner, identified as the author of the remarks, was summoned to be auditioned by the national gendarmerie on Saturday afternoon.

Station context and prior incident

Les Deux Alpes is a popular summer destination for members of the Orthodox Jewish community, and the station hosts the Beth Loubavitch summer seminar each August, drawing hundreds of participants from across France, according to Le Dauphiné Libéré. The town's mayor's office posted on Facebook on Saturday evening, recalling "values of openness, respect and inclusion" and noting that the "precise circumstances" of the incident remained to be established by investigators. The government had already condemned "with the greatest firmness" antisemitic threats against an Australian couple by an Irish national in a supermarket in Avignon on Thursday, two days before the Les Deux Alpes video surfaced.