A 16-year-old youth who allegedly attacked a rabbi as he walked in the street with his nine-year-old son in Orléans, central France, will go on trial next month charged with a religious hate crime.
Orléans prosecutor Emmanuelle Bochenek-Puren said the youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, will face a charge of voluntary violence committed due to the real or assumed belonging, or non-belonging, of the victim to a religion.
The youth denies the charge.
Arié Engelberg was assaulted as he walked from the synagogue on Saturday afternoon in the city, some 110 kilometres south of Paris.
He and his son were unharmed in the attack which was condemned by top politicians in France.
"The attack on Rabbi Arié Engelberg in Orléans shocks us all," said President Emmanuel Macron on social media.
"I offer him, his son, and all our fellow citizens of the Jewish faith my full support and that of the nation … We will not give in to silence or inaction," he added.
Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin also voiced his support on social media.
On Sunday, 300 people gathered at Place de la Bastille in Paris to express their solidarity with Engelberg. A silent march in support of the rabbi is planned for Tuesday evening in Orléans.
Spike in incidents
France is home to the largest Jewish population outside Israel and the United States, as well as the largest Muslim community in the European Union.
According to the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, several EU nations have reported a spike in anti-Muslim hatred and anti-Semitism since 7 October 2023 when the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a cross-border attack in Israel, resulting in the death of 1,205 people.
Israel's subsequent military offensive on Gaza has killed more than 50,000 people, the majority of them civilians, according to figures released by the health ministry in the Hamas-run occupied Palestinian territory and deemed reliable by the United Nations.
France witnessed some 1,570 anti-Semitic acts last year, the interior ministry says. They made up 62 percent of all acts of hatred on the basis of religion.
"No, antisemitism is not ‘residual,’" said Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF), on social media.
"Those who minimise, relativise, or justify hatred of Jews by a conflict 4,000 km away bear an immense responsibility."
(with AFP)
