Jewish man attacked in northern Paris after leaving synagogue

A man with an Arab appearance, whom the victim estimated is 25 years old, followed him into an alley, yelled “dirty Jew” at him and hit him in the face.

By JTA
French police patrol near the Eiffel Tower as security in Paris is bolstered after a shooting killed 12 (photo credit: REUTERS)
French police patrol near the Eiffel Tower as security in Paris is bolstered after a shooting killed 12
(photo credit: REUTERS)
A French Jew from the northern Paris area told police he was assaulted by younger Arabs outside his synagogue.
The complainant, identified only as 53-year-old Salomon Z. in a report about the incident by the National Bureau for Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism, was assaulted on Saturday after attending Shabbat morning services at the synagogue of the municipality of Saint-Quen, the Bureau reported.
A man with an Arab appearance, whom the victim estimated is 25 years old, followed him into an alley, yelled “dirty Jew” at him and hit him in the face, according to an incident report by the Bureau, or BNVCA. Two other men, whom the victim also described as Arabs, joined the alleged aggressor and also hit the Jewish man.
Salomon Z. said the attackers wrestled him to the ground and produced a knife, telling him they were going to stab him, but fled the scene as onlookers began to approach.
The complainant suffered minor injuries to the face. “Shocked and traumatized he returned to his home,” the BNVCA watchdog group wrote. Salomon Z. filed a complaint with police on Sunday.
“Even as synagogues, schools and other Jewish community institutions are watched over by police and troops, Jews remain vulnerable targets on the street or in their place of business,” BNVCA wrote in a statement about the incident.
Some 851 anti-Semitic acts were registered in 2014, compared with 423 the previous year, with acts of physical violence jumping to 241 from 105, according to the SPCJ security unit of French Jewish communities.