An Irish man in his sixties, suspected of making antisemitic threats and telling an Australian Jewish couple he was sorry “Hitler didn’t finish the job” inside an Avignon supermarket, was arrested by French police on Wednesday, with Agence France-Presse reporting that the case was handled by the Marseille research section and the Avignon research brigade.
The mid-August incident gained attention after video footage circulated on social media.
According to the couple’s initial account to the Australian Jewish Association (AJA), the encounter began as friendly conversation before turning hostile, when the tourist mentioned Irish policies regarding Hamas and Hezbollah.
When the tourist started recording, the man threatened them on camera, saying, “You get the f*** away from me before I put a f***ing bullet in your head, okay?”
Speaking exclusively to The Jerusalem Post, the wife of the targeted tourist provided a deeper account: “That short interaction with the Irishman who introduced himself as Paddy was such a terrifying and perfect reflection of how Jews are treated all over the world in 2026, just like in 1942. As soon as he realized we were Jews, his friendly veneer morphed into such violent hatred, and we were no longer English speakers that he wanted to banter with, but vermin he wanted to exterminate.”
‘Bring back Hitler,’ threatens to murder Jews
She claimed that he did not deny his remarks on camera, saying, “I repeated on the video that ‘Paddy from Ireland’ told me he was sorry Hitler didn’t finish the job, so that he had the opportunity to deny it, but he didn’t deny it. He actually said, ‘Bring back Hitler.’ He then followed up with the threat to ‘put a f***ing bullet in my head.'”
Describing him as “sinister enough to make good on his threat,” she added that as they walked away, she looked back and saw that “he had picked up a large cantaloupe and he mimed that he was considering if could throw it at me.”
Reflecting on the broader climate, she stated that “when complicit media mindlessly repeat Hamas propaganda, it has real world impact” and that “Jews everywhere are being attacked.”
Regarding the delayed report, she explained, “As a foreigner, I didn’t know my rights, and also we were heading to Djerba the next day and didn’t want to draw attention to ourselves while we were vulnerable in a hard-line, anti-Israel country.”
After returning to France, they connected with French Jewish security liaisons and attended the Nice police station on Monday, leading gendarmerie forces to arrest the suspect on Wednesday.
She also informed the Post that, “Paddy’s lament that he’s sorry Hitler didn’t finish the job, were not empty words to me. My father survived the Holocaust; his brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, and father all ended up in Auschwitz.”
She recalled how, “Every time I didn’t finish my meal as a child, my father would cry and tell me he didn’t have food when he was my age, how he survived on one piece of bread that was made up partially from sawdust, how he weighed 38 kilograms when he arrived in Australia in 1946.”
She added, “So wishing for the return of Hitler is not some distant myth from a history book; it was my father’s life, and its legacy affected me daily… Even now, in 2026, at the age of 58, as we drive around the magnificent cities, villages and forests of Europe, I look at them and wonder where I’d hide.”
French police, government acts swiftly
She stated, “We really appreciate the French government and police’s response to this incident. The statements from Ministers Serge Papin and Aurore Bergé were of great comfort to us. The police were incredibly professional, and we thank them for acting swiftly.”
French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez commended the authorities on social media, posting, “A suspect was able to be apprehended and will answer for his actions. Antisemitism must be fought firmly and relentlessly.”
Robert Gregory, President of AJA, told the Post, “I commend the French authorities for acting swiftly. I hope the legal system now sends a strong message that this sort of behavior will not be tolerated. This is precisely the kind of firm response that Australian Jews have been calling for from our own authorities. The couple did the right thing by coming forward. By refusing to remain silent, they have helped ensure that this man is held accountable for his alleged actions and, hopefully, that others think twice before engaging in similar behavior.”
Australian security expert Daniel Lewkovitz, who published the video on his X/Twitter account (@ListenToLewko), where it was viewed over 11 million times, told the Post, “What amazed me is how many people in Ireland must have recognized him yet protected his identity. Although the story was covered in global media, I didn’t see a single Irish outlet report on it after the incident or even after the recent arrest. While the video of an Irish man threatening to kill two Australian Jews caused global outrage, there is clearly a major cultural problem in Ireland that caused the Irish to want to look away instead.”