‘Worried for the Jews, but much more for France’

Jewish MP responds to anti-Semitic attack in elevator in Paris. ‘It is increasingly difficult to be a Jew in France.’
A young Jewish father arrived to pick up his seven-month daughter from his parents’ apartment in the 19th district of Paris when he was attacked by two men of African descent.
The man had entered his parents’ apartment building when two men he had never seen before followed him into the elevator. When it arrived at its destination, the two physically assaulted him.
While hitting him, the assailants yelled “You dirty Jew, you’re going to die!” The man said he was saved by his parents who came to his rescue when they realized what was going on after becoming worried their son had yet to arrive.
“I came to pick up my seven-month-old daughter who was with my parents,” says David. “Two young guys, complete foreigners, dressed relatively nicely, in their 20s, came up behind me. When I typed in the entry code to the building they came with me into the elevator. When I got to my parents’ floor, they jumped and grabbed my throat. I tried to scream. I was only a few meters from their door but they could not hear because the doors are massive,” the young man said.
“One strangled me while the other hit me. Then they opened the door of the emergency exit and threw me. I ran up the stairs. But they hit me again and tore my watch from my wrist and strangled me again. I saw death. I wanted it to end.”
His father, who worried when his son did not arrive, opened the door of the apartment and heard the attackers running down the stairs. “I think without him [I would have been left] to die,” the young man said.
French MP Meyer Habib spoke with the young man and heard from him that despite inquiries to the police, they did not bother to show up.
“I know this neighborhood well. I grew up in it and this event is very worrying. It is increasingly difficult to be a Jew in France. Unfortunately there are complete neighborhoods in suburbs near Paris that have been ’emptied’ of Jews, and incidents like this severely harm the feelings of security of the community. I am sad and worried for the Jews, but much more for France,” Habib explained.

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