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In a disturbing attack emblematic of France’s spiraling antisemitism crisis, a 15-year-old Jewish boy was violently assaulted and humiliated at knifepoint last week in the southwestern commune of Colomiers, a suburb of Toulouse.
The teen, who attends a private Jewish school, was reportedly meeting a girl he had connected with over social media. When he arrived, he was ambushed by two men waiting outside a basement entrance. One of the attackers brandished a knife, made the boy strip off his shirt, and forced him to dance while filming the abuse.
The assailant then grabbed the boy by the neck, forced him to kneel, and ordered him to “beg and pray,” repeatedly calling him a “dirty Jew.” The attacker threatened to kill the teen if he contacted police. The video of the assault was later posted on TikTok, further compounding the victim’s trauma.
The teenager identified the assailants through their social media accounts and filed a formal complaint. French authorities arrested one suspect, who now faces charges of aggravated assault motivated by religious hatred. The investigation remains ongoing, with efforts underway to apprehend the remaining attacker.
This horrific act is one of many in a growing global epidemic of antisemitic hate unleashed after the October 7th Hamas massacre in Israel.
According to the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF), 1,570 antisemitic incidents were reported across France in the first months of 2024 — following a record-breaking 1,676 in 2023. These figures reflect a stark and sustained rise in Jew-hatred, up from just 436 incidents in 2022.
Alarmingly, CRIF reports that more than 65% of last year’s antisemitic incidents targeted individuals directly, with over 10% involving physical violence.
Earlier this month, French Rabbi Elie Lemmel was physically assaulted twice in one week in public.
Other recent incidents in France included the defacement of five Jewish-linked sites in Paris — including a national Holocaust memorial, three synagogues, and an Israeli restaurant — with green paint.
Following the attacks on Rabbi Lemmel, Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) Advisor on European Affairs Shannon Seban commented, “What can I say? It’s like a bad movie… but it’s true. An unbearable reality, where not a day goes by without news of a new antisemitic attack. An antisemitism that is becoming commonplace, almost ‘trendy’ in certain circles, fueled and trivialized by a segment of the political class. It is high time that the fight against antisemitism be elevated to a major national cause. Before it’s too late.”
