Jewish man brutally beaten in France on Shabbat

“The slurs used during this attack leave no doubt about its antisemitic nature. The perpetrator must be found and tried,” said a French lawmaker.

By World Israel News Staff

A 67-year-old Jewish man wearing a kippa was violently attacked on Saturday morning in the town of Yerres (Essonne), south of Paris, in what authorities are investigating as an antisemitic assault.

According to police reports, the attacker shouted antisemitic slurs including “Dirty Jew, I’m going to kill you!” while beating the victim, later identified as Gilles Cohen, as he returned from the mikveh.

Witnesses said the assailant also searched him in an apparent attempt to steal money and the keys to the local synagogue. Passersby intervened and stopped the assault, preventing further harm.

The victim was hospitalized with significant injuries, including a badly swollen eye, before being discharged later that evening.

Doctors issued him a medical certificate for 15 days of total incapacity to work.

The Évry prosecutor’s office confirmed that an investigation has been opened for “attempted violent theft resulting in more than eight days of incapacity for work, committed due to the victim’s religion, and death threats motivated by religion.”

The case has been assigned to Essonne’s territorial crime unit. As of Sunday evening, no arrests had been made.

Mendel Gourevitch, director of the Yeshiva in nearby Brunoy and a close friend of Cohen, described the community’s alarm at the attack: “Everyone is worried, especially parents of students at the school. This kind of violence is unprecedented here.”

Despite his injuries, Cohen reportedly attended Sunday morning services, according to Gourevitch.

Rabbi Michel Serfaty of Ris-Orangis lamented that such incidents were no longer “extraordinary” in France: “All I can do is express sympathy. But we must be careful not to feed fear or panic.”

French lawmaker Antoine Léaument, MP for Essonne’s 10th district (LFI), condemned the assault, writing on X (formerly Twitter): “The slurs used during this attack leave no doubt about its antisemitic nature. The perpetrator must be found and tried.”

The Israeli Embassy in France also issued a strong statement, calling the incident “a most serious act, which fits into the disturbing context of the continuing rise in antisemitism in France.”

The embassy wished Cohen a speedy recovery and expressed confidence that French authorities would act swiftly to bring the attacker to justice.

Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF), stressed that the assault mirrored recent attacks on rabbis in other French cities, warning: “No one will uproot the Jews from France. But it is high time to uproot the antisemitism festering in society, using a conflict 3,000 km away as a pretext.”

The attack adds to growing concerns over antisemitic incidents across France, where Jewish leaders say hostility has intensified since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. Community representatives continue to call for stronger measures to counter hate-motivated violence and ensure the safety of French Jews.