Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, visit at the synagogue in Strasbourg, France, on June 30, 2017. Photo: Kobi Gideon/GPO.

i24 News – Police reported on Friday an arrest of a 15-year-old in the vicinity of the Strasbourg synagogue. The teenager of Chechen origin drew attention to himself by rubbing a knife blade on the metal barriers surrounding the Synagogue of Peace and reportedly hiding the weapon up his sleeve.

After the arrest, the boy claimed to have found the 12-centimetre-blade knife in his pocket by accident. He stated that he was not aware that the building was a synagogue.

The police searched the teenager’s phone and found suspicious messages and browser history. Namely, the detainee searched how to acquire a Kalashnikov assault rifle. He explained that he planned to launch a drug trafficking network.

The federal police are investigating the incident. Since the start of Israel’s war against Hamas, France has observed an increase in antisemitic incidents, including a deadly stabbing of a teacher on October 14.

French Minister of Interior Gerald Darmanin stated shortly after the war broke out: “Since the terrorist massacres in Israel, there has been over a hundred antisemitic acts, mainly tags and swastikas, but also insults and people arrested with a knife at the entrance of a school or synagogue and a drone flying over a Jewish place of worship.”

MTV had to cancel its Europe Music Awards show, that had been planned in the French capital Paris, due to the security risks amid the Israel-Hamas war. Earlier on Wednesday, the authorities evacuated six airports across France following multiple bomb scares.