Hate attack in Paris suburb

A JEWISH man was beaten up in a southern Parisian suburb on Thursday by a group of men, at least one of whom was shouting: “Dirty Jew!”

“They pushed him to the ground and struck him. I don’t know how they identified him as Jewish since he wasn’t wearing any distinctive sign,” said Créteil’s Jewish community leader Albert Elharrar, who met the victim.

“The victim was brave enough to hit one of his aggressors back which allowed him to try to escape, but they caught him,” said Elharrar.

The attackers hit the victim from behind while he was returning home from work.

Mr Elharrar said that the area where the assault took place, near to Créteil’s court house, “is full of petty criminals who try to rob people.” Police are searching for suspects. “So far, the victim has recognised one of his attackers,” said Mr Elharrar.

Créteil is home to 22,000 Jews — one of France’s largest Jewish communities. Jews represent about 20 per cent of the local population.

It has been targeted twice in the past three years, including an antisemitic robbery and rape in 2014. Several families have left the city since then; most to Israel.

Jewish leaders say antisemitism is still a major threat in France, although the number of attacks dropped by 61 per cent in the first 10 months of 2016. Last year, antisemitism reached record levels with 808 assaults, including the terrorist attack on the HyperCacher supermarket in which four men were killed.