MOORE, OK – MAY 19: Construction workers work on the concrete slab for a new home is built to replace the one that was destroyed almost one year ago by a tornado on May 19, 2014 in Moore, Oklahoma. On May 20, 2013 a two-mile wide EF5 tornado touched down in the town killing 24 people and leaving behind extensive damage to homes and businesses. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) A slab of concrete was thrown through a window of an 84-year-old Jewish woman’s home near Paris on June 22, authorities said.
According to the National Office for Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism (BVNCA), the woman, who has not been identified, was watching television in her Gagny home when the slab was thrown through a window. The woman wasn’t injured but was “traumatized” by the event, per the BVNCA.
The BVNCA conjectured that the home was targeted because it has a mezuzah on its door. The BVNCA also said that it heard from witnesses that the people behind the vandalism were “probably affiliated with the leftist movement and the anti-Israeli BDS [boycott, divestment and sanctions movement],” according to the Algemeiner, which was unable to verify any of the claims.
Previous incidents of older Jewish women being targeted in France includes Holocaust survivor Mireille Knoll, 85, who was stabbed to death in March 2018; her apartment also was set on fire. In 2017, Sarah Halimi, 65, was beaten to death and thrown out of her window.
Two men, Yacine Mihoub, 28, and Alex Carrimbacus, 22, will stand trial for Knoll’s death. Prosecutors allege that it was a hate crime; both men have pleaded not guilty. In December, the suspect in Halimi’s killing, Kobili Traore, 29, was found mentally unfit to stand trial because a judge ruled Traore was under the influence of marijuana during the killing of Halimi. An appeals court upheld the ruling.
The Stop Anti-Semitism.org watchdog tweeted, “First Sarah Halimi in 2017. Then Mireille Knoll in 2018. Now This. What’s going on with the Jew haters in France and their obsession with elderly Jewish women?”
First Sarah Halimi in 2017.
Then Mireille Knoll in 2018.
Now This.What's going on with the Jew haters in France and their obsession with elderly Jewish women? https://t.co/PZmDbodNre
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) June 26, 2020
The Simon Wiesenthal Center similarly tweeted, “Elderly French Jewish woman not even safe in her own home from violent #Antisemitic attack.”
Elderly French Jewish woman not even safe in her own home from violent #Antisemitic attack https://t.co/687CDrJZrn
— SimonWiesenthalCntr (@simonwiesenthal) June 25, 2020
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