Jewish woman attacked in Paris Oct. 7 by men referring to Hamas-Israel war

Pro-Palestinian protesters march in Paris, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (AP/Thomas Padilla)

They also allegedly  hurled antisemitic slurs and drew swastikas on her body, according to the police complaint.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

A Jewish woman was attacked in Paris Monday with her assailants referring to the Israel-Hamas war whose first anniversary was marked that day by both pro- and anti-Israel demonstrations in France and around the world.

According to the French CNEWS channel,  three men accosted her in the lobby of her apartment building, beat her, threatened her with a box cutter, and hurled antisemitic slurs at her. They also allegedly pulled down her pants and drew swastikas in red marker on her body.

Her husband called the police, who immediately opened an investigation.

There are those in authority who allegedly do not necessarily believe the woman’s account, however.

Valuers Actuelles, a weekly news magazine associated with the far right, cited an unnamed police source who said that the issue was not clear-cut.

“There are doubts about what happened, we have to be careful,” the source said. “The only legible writing is on the left arm…. Video from the parking lot shows the woman coming out [of the building] and she is perfectly dressed at that moment.”

French Jews need no persuading that the story is true, as they have experienced nearly a thousand antisemitic assaults, whether verbal or physical, in the last year as Israel fights Hamas terrorists since the day they invaded and slaughtered 1,200 people, wounded over 5,000 and took 251 hostages, of whom 97, both alive and dead, are still being held captive.

After a terrorist wrapped in a keffiyeh and Palestinian flag attempted to set fire to a synagogue in southern France in late August, Yonathan Arfi, the head of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF) told The Jerusalem Post, “We all live with the idea that some people consider Jews to be legitimate targets for a battle happening 4,000 kilometers away.”

A reported 68% of French Jews feel unsafe since the war in Gaza began. In July, Moshe Sebbag, chief rabbi of the Grand Synagogue of Paris, told the Knesset Immigration Committee that “People in the Jewish community prefer to conceal their Jewish identity when they are in the public space.”

 

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