Teenager says attack on Jewish teacher in France was for ISIS and Allah
France has the highest Jewish and the Muslim populations in Europe. Violent racial incidents have been in the spotlight since ISIS claimed a series of attacks in Paris on Nov. 13.
By REUTERSUpdated: JANUARY 11, 2016 19:23Police officers in France(photo credit: REUTERS)
PARIS- A teenager who attacked a Jewish teacher in Marseille on Monday is a Turkish citizen of Kurdish origin who said he acted in the name of the militant Islamist group Islamic State, the prosecutor in the southern French city of Marseille said."He claimed to have acted in the name of Allah and the Islamic State, repeating several times to have done on behalf of Daesh (Islamic State)," the prosecutor, Brice Robin, told a news conference.The 15 year-old, who was armed with a machete and a knife, attacked and wounded the teacher slightly outside of a synagogue in the ninth arrondissement district of Marseilles before being stopped and arrested.The young man was reportedly mentally unstable at the time of the attack.The victim sustained minor injuries to his back and hand.Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve earlier called the attack a "brutal anti-semitic aggression."The ninth arrondissement of Marseilles is known for having a large concentration of Jewish residents and Jewish owned shops and restaurants.In November, a teacher at a Jewish school in Marseilles was stabbed by three people professing support for Islamic State, but his life was not in danger, prosecutors said. The victim was identified as Tziyon Saadon who is in his fifties.The three men who attacked the teacher uttered anti-Semitic remarks during the incident, AFP reported.Sam Sokol contributed to this report.
