The attacker texted the victim’s mother, ‘Good luck, you will never see her again … I will prostitute your daughter.’
A Jewish woman was kidnapped, reportedly raped, and threatened with murder in Gennevilliers, a Paris suburb, by an attacker who wanted to “avenge Palestine” according to Le Parisien.
The 32-year-old suspect was arrested by French police on charges of making religiously motivated death threats and using narcotics.
Prosecutors say the rape accusation is being investigated but the kidnapping charge has been confirmed.
The Jewish woman met the man through a dating app in 2023, but the date became a crime when he sent text messages to the victim’s mother and ex-boyfriend saying that he was holding the woman against her will and would prostitute her “to avenge Palestine.”
He wrote, “Good luck, you will never find your daughter again, you will never see her again, I will prostitute your daughter.”
When he was arrested, the man said the threats weren’t in earnest and were intended as provocations.
The incident was met with outrage by French politicians.
The Interministerial Delegation for the Fight against Racism, Antisemitism, and anti-LGBT Hatred wrote on social media, “Antisemitism, particularly under the guise of anti-Zionism, is everyone’s business in our Republic and that it must be fought tirelessly.”
Hauts-de-Seine senator Pierre Ouzoulias said that the incident provided new proof that “antisemitism is a terrible poison.”
Marine Le-Pen of the National Rally party said the incident was a symptom of the far left’s failure to deal with antisemitism in France, and said, “I provide all my support to the victim and to our Jewish compatriots.”
In January, data revealed that antisemitic incidents in France increased fourfold and in London, were up 13x since October 7th.
The French interior ministry and the Council of Jewish Institutions in France (CRIF), a security watchdog group, reported 1,676 antisemitic acts in 2023 compared to just 436 a year ago.
Of these incidents, 60% involved the use of physical violence, dangerous threats or menacing gestures and 13% took place in schools.
The report says, “We are witnessing a rejuvenation of the perpetrators of antisemitic acts. Schools are no longer a sanctuary of the Republic.”
CRIF revealed that the rise in antisemitic incidents was the worst it had seen since it began keeping records in 2012.
The organization cautioned that it can only count incidents which have been reported to the police and in reality, there are many more than the published figures.
France is home to the largest Jewish and Muslim populations in Europe.
CRIF has linked the dramatic rise in antisemitic incidents to the conflict between Israel and Hamas, with at least a third of them involving a call to jihadism and murder.