French authorities on Thursday arrested a female social media influencer, Warda Anwar who mocked the reported killing of an Israeli baby by Hamas militants, prosecutors told AFP.
In a video, Anwar a model dropped a comment on a report by an Israeli first responder who said Hamas militants had burned a baby alive in an oven during their assault on October 7.
“I wonder whether they added salt and pepper first, did they add thyme?” Anwar said in the video. “What was the side dish?”
Following strong reactions on social media to the video last week, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said Friday he had filed a criminal complaint against Anwar.
Prosecutors said she was being investigated for “glorifying terrorism” and was taken into custody in Paris early Thursday.
The Israeli embassy in France called Anwar’s remarks “disgusting”.
Posting on X, formerly Twitter, the embassy said “the unspeakable remarks must not remain unpunished”, and called for her social media accounts to be blocked. French media say her video was carried on Instagram, but her account was not available Thursday.
