Three Jewish teenagers were attacked in the same Paris district where a Jewish teen was beaten severely in June.
The victims, who were wearing kipot, were temporarily hospitalized for minor injuries on Saturday in what some officials are describing as another anti-Semitic attack in the 19th District.
Badly bruised and with a few fractures, the three boys were shocked and worried about their safety, said the president of the French Jewish Student Union UEJF, Raphael Haddad, who spoke to the victims on Sunday.
“Their attackers were also from the neighborhood,” said Haddad in a telephone interview with JTA, “so they are worried about what will happen if they see them again after today.”
The three boys reported the incident to Paris police on Saturday after going to the hospital. The attack took place at about 6:30 p.m. in the low-income, heavily Jewish and Muslim northeastern Paris neighborhood where 17-year-old Rudy Haddad was beaten on June 21 by a group of young people.
Two of Haddad’s assailants were charged with “attempted murder and group violence aggravated by their anti-Semitic character.”
In a Sunday news release, Interior Minister Michèle Alliot-Marie said she condemned Saturday’s “anti-Semitic violent acts.”
Richard Prasquier, the president of the Jewish umbrella organization CRIF, told the Jewish Radio RCJ on Sunday that he was “certain” the three boys were targeted because they were identified as Jews.
“There isn’t a shadow of a doubt,” concerning the “anti-Semitic character” of the crime, said Prasquier. “Let it be made clear – the boys who were walking by had a kipah.”
A Paris police spokeswoman said an investigation was launched to determine whether the incident was anti-Semitic, adding that the attackers reportedly did not speak to their victims.
The victims’ names were not made public by the French press, but the Jerusalem Post identified them as Bnei Akiva youth group counselors Kevin Bitan and David Buaziz, both 18, and Dan Nebet, 17.
The Bureau of Vigilance against anti-Semitism confirmed their ages and first names.
