Perpetrators arrested in violent assault on Jewish family singing Chanukah songs in France

The four individuals allegedly screamed “f— the Jews” as they shook the the car violently and smashed glass bottles against the body of the vehicle.

By Algemeiner Staff

French police arrested four individuals on Friday in connection with an “incredibly violent” assault on a Jewish family who were traveling in their car in a Paris suburb the previous evening.

In another example of the brazen and potentially-lethal anti-Semitic attacks endured by French Jews over the last decade, Thursday night’s incident began with the unsuspecting Jewish family sitting in their car, where they sang and listened to songs and messages celebrating the festival of Chanukah.

The four individuals are alleged to have descended on the car as they screamed, “F— the Jews.” They then began shaking the car violently while smashing glass bottles against the body of the vehicle.

Police officers arrested the entire group shortly afterward on charges of assault aggravated by religious hatred.

France’s interior minister urged in the wake of the attack that the four perpetrators be “punished” with sentences appropriate to the seriousness of their crime.

“Last night, in the middle of Chanukah, a family from Aubervilliers was insulted and attacked for being Jewish. In France, in 2020,” Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin tweeted.

He continued: “The assailants were arrested very quickly by the police. They should be punished commensurate with the gravity of these facts.”

The mayor of Aubervilliers — the suburb northeast of the French capital where the attack occurred — said the incident had left her in shock.

“This is unacceptable and intolerable,” Karine Franclet wrote on her Facebook page.

Aubervilliers has been the location of previous anti-Semitic outrages, among them a violent assault in September this year by three men on a young man who was wearing a Star of David necklace.

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