Israeli beaten unconscious in Paris Metro attack

'It's clear they attacked because they heard I'm Israeli,' says the student; French Jewish MP Habib, himself a target of many anti-Semitic attacks, helps file a police complaint
Itamar Eichner, Liran Firedmann |
A 31-year-old Israeli student was beaten to unconsciousness on a Paris Metro on Tuesday after two men apparently overheard heard him speaking on the phone in Hebrew.
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  • "They punched me several times," the student said. "My glasses broke and I lost consciousness."
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    Paris Metro
    Paris Metro
    Paris Metro
    (Photo: Reuters)
    He noted that "it is clear that they attacked me only because they heard that I was Israeli."
    A French passenger assisted the student and called an ambulance that took him to hospital.
    French Jewish MP Meyer Habib, himself the frequent target of anti-Semitic abuse, helped the student file a police complaint.
    This attack follows a series of anti-Semitic acts of violence against Jewish people and their institutions.
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    חבר הפרלמנט היהודי מאיר חביב
    חבר הפרלמנט היהודי מאיר חביב
    French MP Meyer Habib
    Last Tuesday, anti-Semitic symbols including swastikas were found on spray-painted on more than 100 Jewish graves at a cemetery near the French town of Strasbourg.
    Habib, who was elected to parliament in 2013, receives threats and abuse on a daily basis, and files roughly 25 claims a month against those who have made threats against him and his family.
    After thoroughly analyzing the severity of the material, Habib's team sends transcripts of hateful messages and an image of the people issuing them to a lawyer. These threats result in a trial being conducted roughly every six months.
    The hate posts gathered and published by Habib in his Facebook page range from calling him a "stinking Zionist" all the way to branding him a full-blown Nazi.
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    The defaced graves in Strasbourg
    The defaced graves in Strasbourg
    The defaced graves at a Jewish cemetery near Strasbourg
    (Photo: AFP)
    In 2015, a man who threatened to decapitate Habib was jailed for 15 months.
    In August 2018, Habib's office in the French parliament received an envelope containing an unidentified white powder, resulting in the entire building have to shut down for six hours.
    One of the posts on Habib's page was written in Arabic and calls him "the devil's messenger" and accuses him of "twisting history."
    Last Tuesday, the French National Assembly did pass legislation ruling that anti-Zionism is a modern form of anti-Semitism.
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