An Irish man accused of threatening to shoot an Australian Jewish couple and invoking Adolf Hitler during an antisemitic confrontation in southern France has been arrested after video of the encounter spread around the world.

French authorities detained the suspect, reported to be in his 60s, following an investigation into the confrontation at a hypermarket in Le Pontet, just outside Avignon. The case is being handled by investigative units in Marseille and Avignon.

The encounter began innocently. According to the Jewish couple, the Irish tourist approached them after noticing the husband wearing a French soccer shirt and hearing them speaking English. The group exchanged friendly remarks before the conversation turned toward Ireland, Israel and Irish policy toward Hamas and Hezbollah.

The woman says the man’s demeanor abruptly changed and that he told them he was sorry Hitler had not “finished the job.” That alleged remark was made before she began recording and therefore is not captured on video.

What happened next was.

As the couple confronted him over what he had allegedly said, the man turned toward the camera and explicitly threatened to shoot them. The footage quickly went viral, putting international attention on the case and prompting condemnation from senior French officials.

The couple initially did not file a complaint because they were traveling onward to Tunisia and were uncertain about the process as foreign tourists. After returning to France, they contacted Jewish security representatives and went to police in Nice. The suspect was arrested shortly afterward.

For the woman, the Hitler reference carried a particularly personal weight. She told The Jerusalem Post that her father survived the Holocaust while numerous members of his family were murdered at Auschwitz. She described growing up with the consequences of what he endured and said hearing someone openly invoke Hitler against her was anything but an abstract historical reference.

French officials had already condemned the confrontation after the footage first emerged. Following the arrest, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez praised the gendarmes responsible for the investigation and declared: “Antisemitism must be fought firmly and relentlessly.”

The case comes as France continues confronting exceptionally high levels of antisemitism. The French Interior Ministry recorded 1,320 antisemitic acts in 2025. While that represented a 16% decline from the previous year, authorities said the level remained historically high and noted that antisemitic incidents accounted for 53% of all recorded anti-religious acts in the country.

The suspect has not been publicly identified and the precise charges he may face have not yet been announced. French reporting says public expressions of antisemitic hatred can carry penalties of up to five years in prison and fines reaching €45,000.

What began as a chance conversation in a supermarket is now a criminal investigation, with a viral video, an identified suspect and French authorities signaling that the threat will not simply disappear into the social media cycle.