France’s Jews under siege—again.
Blood on the Sidewalk: French Rabbi Attacked Twice in a Week as Antisemitic Violence Surges
Rabbi Elie Lemmel was assaulted for the second time in a week in Paris’s Neuilly-sur-Seine suburb, as a Palestinian man attacked him with a chair in an antisemitic assault that left him hospitalized.



Rabbi Elie Lemmel was attacked for the second time in a week on Friday when a 28-year-old Palestinian man from Rafah, Gaza, hurled a chair at him on a cafe terrace in Neuilly-sur-Seine, a Paris suburb, police reported. The assault, which left Lemmel with head injuries requiring hospitalization, points to a sharp rise in antisemitic hate crimes across France, according to Reuters and i24NEWS.
Lemmel, speaking to Reuters, recounted the Friday attack: “I found myself on the ground, I immediately felt blood flowing.” Initially disoriented, he suspected his visible Jewish attire, a beard and kippah, made him a target. “I am very afraid that we are living in a world where words are generating more and more evil,” he told i24NEWS. The previous week, in Deauville, Normandy, Lemmel was punched in the stomach by an unknown assailant, marking his first physical assaults despite enduring hostile looks and verbal insults in the past.
The Nanterre prosecutor’s office opened an investigation into the Neuilly attack, classifying it as religiously motivated violence. The suspect, identified via German-language documents, was detained but hospitalized after a psychiatric evaluation. CRIF, the umbrella organization of France’s Jewish groups, condemned the “antisemitic attack” on X, stating, “In a general context where hatred of Israel fuels the stigmatization of Jews on a daily basis, this attack is yet another illustration of the toxic climate targeting French Jews.”
France, home to Europe’s largest Jewish community, has seen a surge in antisemitic incidents since the Gaza war began on October 7, 2023, following Hamas’s attack on Israel. Official data from March 2025 reported an 11% rise in racist, xenophobic, and anti-religious crimes in 2024, though specific breakdowns by religion were not provided. Last week, France’s Holocaust memorial, three Paris synagogues, and a restaurant were vandalized with green paint.
Former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal called the attack on Lemmel “sickening” on X, labeling antisemitism a “deadly poison for our society.” Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau added, “Attacking a person because of their faith is a shame,” urging collective action against anti-religious acts.
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