‘Dirty Jew’: Jewish man brutally attacked in France

French authorities are treating the incident as an antisemitic hate crime, with the investigation focusing on death threats motivated by religion, theft, and intentional violence.

By Ailin Vilches Arguello, The Algemeiner

A Jewish man wearing a Star of David pendant was brutally attacked and called a “dirty Jew” in France last week, according to local media reports, as the country continues to face a rise in antisemitic incidents since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in 2023.

The latest antisemitic attack took place around 1 pm on Friday in Villeurbanne, a city in eastern France that is home to the country’s second-largest Jewish community.

According to French media, a Jewish man, who was wearing a Star of David pendant, was physically attacked by two individuals, receiving a blow to the head from one of them.

As one of the assailants recorded the assault, the other attacker beat the victim while shouting slurs such as “dirty Jew” and “dirty fascist.”

Local police have opened an investigation into the attack and are working closely with the Jewish community in the area.

French authorities are treating the incident as an antisemitic hate crime, with the investigation focusing on death threats motivated by religion, theft, and intentional violence.

The city’s mayor, Cédric Van Styvendael of the Socialist Party, condemned the incident on social media, offering his full support to the victim.

“I hope that this matter is fully investigated, and that the perpetrators are identified, arrested, and swiftly brought to justice,” he wrote. “Impunity is not an option.”

“I will keep doing everything I can to fight all forms of violence, ensuring that the people of Villeurbanne, regardless of their origin or faith, can live peacefully in our city,” he continued.

The assault comes amid a recent rise in antisemitic incidents across France, with this latest attack marking the third such incident in Villeurbanne in just over a month.

Last month, a 46-year-old woman on her way to Hebrew class was physically attacked and called a “dirty Jew.”

A Jewish man was also physically assaulted after a traffic incident. The assailant attacked him while hurling antisemitic insults, calling him a “Zionist” and a “dirty Jew” and blaming him for the “massacre in Gaza.”

Based on hospital records, the victim suffered a triple fracture in his arm and multiple bruises.

Antisemitism in France continued to surge to alarming levels across the country last year, with 1,570 incidents recorded, according to a report by the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF) – the main representative body of French Jews.

The total number of antisemitic outrages last year was a slight dip from 2023’s record total of 1,676, but it marked a striking increase from the 436 antisemitic acts recorded in 2022.

In late May and early June, antisemitic acts rose by more than 140 percent, far surpassing the weekly average of slightly more than 30 incidents.

The report also found that 65.2 percent of antisemitic acts last year targeted individuals, with more than 10 percent of these offenses involving physical violence.

One such incident occurred in June, when a 12-year-old Jewish girl was raped by three Muslim boys in a Paris suburb. The child told investigators that the assailants called her a “dirty Jew” and hurled other antisemitic comments at her during the attack.

Antisemitism skyrocketed in France following the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, amid the ensuing war in Gaza.