Elderly Orthodox man called ‘dirty Jew’ and ‘brutally assaulted’ in Paris

“An investigation is underway on charges of attempted violent robbery resulting in total incapacity to work of more than eight days, committed on religious grounds, and for death threats on religious grounds,” Dulin told AFP.

The investigation has been entrusted to the Essonne territorial crime division, the report continued. No arrests have been made.

Cohen was repeatedly struck and his pockets were searched for money and synagogue keys, according to local media.

Mendel Gourevitch, a close friend of the victim and director of the Brunoy yeshiva, in a neighbouring town,.said on Sunday that Cohen’s “eye is very, very swollen.”

He added that his friend “had the courage to come to services this morning. He didn’t want to give in to panic and fear.”

“This is the first time” such an assault has taken place in a relatively “quiet” area, Gourevitch continued. “Everyone is worried,” he added, especially the parents of his school’s students.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry condemned the “shocking antisemitic attack”.

Cohen was “brutally assaulted, struck in the face several times, and called a ‘dirty Jew.’ This is an extremely serious act that reflects the alarming rise of antisemitism in France,” the ministry noted.

It wished the victim a “swift and full recovery,” adding that it expects French authorities to promptly bring the attacker to justice and to ensure the safety of the Jewish community.

Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF), said that the incident in Yerres was the latest in a series of antisemitic attacks against rabbis in recent months.

“How long will this repeated hatred be tolerated?” he tweeted in French.

“No one will uproot the Jews from France. But it is high time to uproot the antisemitism that is festering in society, using a conflict [1,800 miles] away as a pretext,” Arfi wrote, referring to the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Since Hamas invaded Israel on October 7 2023 antisemitic incidents have risen sharply in France. More than 640 antisemitic incidents were recorded in the first six months of 2025, according to France’s Interior Ministry. This number represented a decrease of 27.5 per cent compared with the first half of 2024, but an increase of 112.5% over the same period in 2023.