French Rabbi Assaulted Twice, Palestinian Suspect Under Psychiatric Evaluation

Rabbi Elie Lemmel was attacked twice within a week in France, most recently when a Palestinian man threw a chair at him at a cafe in the affluent Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine, causing a head injury. The attacker, a 28-year-old Palestinian originally from Gaza who holds temporary papers in Germany, was arrested and is undergoing psychiatric evaluation. French authorities have opened a criminal investigation for assault possibly aggravated by religious motives, reflecting concerns over rising antisemitic violence. The attack has been condemned by France’s main Jewish association, CRIF, and French leaders, including Prime Minister Francois Bayrou, who linked the incident to a radicalization of public discourse amid the ongoing Gaza conflict. Lemmel expressed fear over increasing hostility and emphasized that religion should never be a cause for violence. The incident highlights a troubling climate for French Jews, with hate crimes rising and repeated assaults occurring in recent weeks.