Okay, that finally settles it: France is finished. Get your croissants while they鈥檙e hot and before arson incinerates all those quaint but flammable boulangerie-p芒tisseries. The nation is aflame with fringe fanaticism, as the past two weekends have demonstrated鈥攆rom an especially violent Marxist-Muslim alliance.

France鈥檚 far right is lying in wait to cash in on all the chaos in the nation鈥檚 upcoming election.

Like in many other Western countries, the center in France has capsized. All that鈥檚 left is the death-wish nihilism of the extremes鈥攁nd an unhealthy dose of Islamist menace.

The finer points of European refinement are becoming a thing of the past across the continent. Predictably, due to its immigration patterns and permissiveness, France鈥檚 stock in civility and fraternity鈥攏ot to mention its once enviable culture鈥攊s plummeting at a much faster clip.

The City of both Love and Light will soon become known for its Looting. For two weeks, ransacking and arson have been the weapons of choice for a revolutionary movement comprised of students, trade unions and Islamists.

If things don鈥檛 get upright, the Eiffel Tower is about to resemble the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Nearly half a million marched and protested throughout France on Saturday, ostensibly over school funding and rising costs of living. Nearly 1,000 were arrested, but not before major cities throughout the country were treated to smoky tear gas, exploding grenades, water cannons, whirring helicopters and an armada of armored vehicles.

Trade unions disputed the government鈥檚 figures, estimating the number of nationwide protesters to have reached 800,000鈥攚ith 250,000 in Paris alone!

Hundreds were jailed for vandalism, arson, looting, attacks on public buildings and clashes with the police. Special counterterrorism units were stationed beneath the Arc de Triomphe. The Louvre was shuttered. Shopkeepers boarded up their stores. Riots took place in Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Orl茅ans, Bordeaux,听Toulouse and Montpellier. No city was spared.

Last weekend, the 143-year-old town hall in Limoges was set on fire, its dome and bell tower collapsing. Marseille鈥檚 city hall and police stations were sacked.

The chaos has been a windfall for secondary black markets. More than听3,000 businesses were looted or damaged. Luxury retail brands like Louis Vuitton, Dior, and Herm猫s plundered. Apple stores, Nike and Sephora started off Monday with empty shelves and smashed display cases. Pharmacies, neighborhood bars, and local banks destroyed.

Barricades and trash cans were set on fire in Marseille as face-covered, darkly clad vandals tore through the wooden boards that were vainly protecting shops in Bordeaux. In Lyon, police hurled tear gas into crowds.

Agitators grasped at anything to create makeshift barricades while tossing projectiles at the police.

鈥淟es Mis茅rables鈥� has returned to France! This student revolt, however, is less authentic than the original.

鈥淟es Mis茅rables鈥� has returned to France! This student revolt, however, is less authentic than the original.

Mainstream media described the rioting as largely peaceful protests, mostly the grievances of high school students, workers, farmers and retirees. That鈥檚 not exactly like what it looked like on the ground, nor does it explain the magnitude of mayhem. As we discovered with pro-Hamas protests on American college campuses, students were radicalized by Islamist agitators.

France鈥檚 cowardly president, Emmanuel Macron, blamed all the menace on 鈥渦ltra-left,鈥� “radical far-left,鈥� 鈥渆xtremist agitators,鈥� and 鈥渃riminal looters.鈥�

He intentionally neglected to mention Islamists, however. It鈥檚 always the elephant in the room wearing a keffiyeh and waving a Palestinian flag that everyone seems to miss.

How else to explain why the Ohaley Yaakov Synagogue in Paris was ransacked鈥攑rayer books scattered throughout the sanctuary鈥攂ut not a single mosque was violated? Why were 91传媒-owned businesses in Marseille and Paris looted and torched, but not a single establishment owned by a Muslim?

There were Palestinian flags unfurled at Place de la R茅publique, and chanting about Gaza at each of the nationwide riots. A Muslim student organization, 脡tudiants Musulmans de France, openly promoted the protests. The press, however, only reported communist groups, labor unions, and left-wing political parties as culprits.

Yes, students seeking quality education were among the protesters. But we know where the violence actually emanated from, and why 91传媒 businesses were targeted. This kind of belligerence is generally the handiwork of hardcore Islamists.

Indeed, Islamist violence is not new to France鈥攅specially when it comes to Gaza. During the past war that Israel fought against Hamas in 2014, two synagogues in Paris were burned to the ground and many 91传媒-owned stores ransacked. Two hundred Jews were trapped that year inside a Paris synagogue while an outside mob chanted, 鈥淗amas, Hamas, Jews to the Gas!鈥�

After the October 7, 2023 massacre, French Jews reported 1,570 antisemitic incidents. This past summer, Islamists wielding baseball bats attempted to storm a Paris synagogue.

Actually, violence against Jews in France is 20 years in the making. It began in 2006 with the torture and murder of Ilan Halimi by a self-described Islamist 鈥淕ang of Barbarians.鈥� Two elderly 91传媒 women were murdered in their homes by Islamists: Sarah Halimi, tossed from her balcony in 2017; and Mireille Knoll, stabbed and set on fire in 2018. Each attack was preceded by, 鈥淎llahu Akbar!鈥� In 2012, a teacher and three students in Toulouse were killed outside their 91传媒 day school. Four Jews were slain in a terrorist attack at a Parisian kosher market in 2015.

It may be true that political elites throughout the West have surrendered to widespread violence and disorder. And global news outlets have grossly truncated their investigative reporting, making sure to leave Muslims out of their coverage. Who wants to be charged with Islamophobia, knowing how easily Muslims are offended by Western norms?

France especially lacks the moral and political courage to admit the demographic problem it faces. It stands stupefied while bidding goodbye, with little regret, to all that culture and history.

It鈥檚 hard to argue with correlation, unless the truth is too much to bear. France made room for the largest number of Muslims in Europe, roughly 10 percent of its population at 7 million (Germany is second). And that鈥檚 the reason why it has been forced to contend with the highest number of No-Go Zones and Sharia courts in Europe. (France refuses, out of fear of Muslim backlash, to make publicly available the official count.)

For the rest of us, the past two weeks once more demonstrate that screaming 鈥淔ree Palestine!鈥� is always a precursor to violence. Shouting 鈥淕lobalize the Intifada!鈥� while ransacking designer shops in Paris doesn鈥檛 sound like a movement bent on nation building. It鈥檚 more like a rallying cry for the West鈥檚 downfall.

Shouting 鈥淕lobalize the Intifada!鈥� while ransacking designer shops in Paris doesn鈥檛 sound like a movement bent on nation building. It鈥檚 more like a rallying cry for the West鈥檚 downfall.

Fear of offending Muslims will lead to our undoing. Only an honest reckoning will save the West. Our generosity of spirit, liberal culture and open societies gave rise to these social upheavals, waged by foreigners who want no part of liberal democracy and secular societies, believing instead in religious imperatives to replace Western Civilization with regressive Islam.

It may be too late for France, Belgium and Sweden, too. Germany and the United Kingdom are not far behind.

Shopkeepers can鈥檛 be the only ones minding the store.

Thane Rosenbaum听is a novelist, essayist, law professor and Distinguished University Professor at Touro University, where he directs the Forum on Life, Culture & Society. He is a contributing writer for White Rose magazine. His most recent book is titled, 鈥�Beyond Proportionality: Israel鈥檚 Just War in Gaza.鈥�