Anti-Semitism in France, like that in other countries in Europe, goes back centuries, and, like that elsewhere, usually took various forms, including stereotyping Jews, segregation, and expulsion of Jews from cities and even from the country as a whole. The most notable expulsions of Jews that occurred in the 12th through 14th centuries were from Paris by Philip Augustus in 1182, and from the whole of France by Louis IX in 1254, by Charles IV in 1306, by Charles V in 1322 and by Charles VI in 1394. In the 19th century the Jews were blamed for the defeat of France in the Franco Prussian War (1870 -1871). During World War II, some 75,000 French Jews, including about 11,000 children, were sent to Nazi death camps.

In the 20th and 21st centuries, anti-Jewish acts in France were often excused by the antagonism many French citizens had (particularly those among the Muslim community) regarding the disputes between the Palestinians and Israel. In the first decade of the 21st century alone thousands of antisemitic actions and threats were recorded in France, the murder of several people at a Jewish supermarket in Paris in January, 2015, being one example of many. Many equated attacks against Jews and destruction of Jewish property and synagogues in France as a statement against the policies of Israel. This may be viewed as analogous to attacking Catholics or destroying Catholic Churches in France as a protest against the policies of the Vatican state which, thankfully, does not occur.