French intelligence chief warns of rise in foreign attacks on diasporas

French domestic security chief Celine Berthon warned on Tuesday that a surge in foreign attacks, particularly against diasporas, poses a threat to French sovereignty. Berthon spoke at a Paris panel organized by the country's largest employer federation, Medef. She pointed out that in recent years, especially since 2022, France has seen a drastic increase in acts of interference on its national territory.

These attacks, which combine cyber warfare, disinformation, and infrastructure strikes, have been fueled by conflicts like the war in Ukraine and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Berthon emphasized that these assaults occur both in physical spaces, such as vandalism targeting places of worship and cyberspace, and in the targeted harassment of diaspora communities.

Russia is identified as the primary culprit, with incidents including the placement of severed pig heads outside mosques in Paris and red hands tags on the Shoah Memorial. France, home to the largest Muslim and Jewish minorities in Europe, is also a target of attacks against Iranian critics. The security chief warned that these divisive issues are used to destabilize France, undermine its independence, and fragment its society by exploiting societal fractures.

Berthon also noted a recent incident at Leipzig/Halle airport in Germany, where a drone packed with explosives was discovered near a Ukrainian cargo plane, signaling the potential for more direct and violent hostile actions on French soil.