Students and faculty of a predominantly Jewish school near Paris have reported two attacks and one break-in in the space of 48 hours.

The first attack against students of the ORT high school in Montreuil, an eastern suburb of the French capital, occurred on Nov. 19 just outside the institution’s gates, according to a statement issued by the school. Six young men started hitting a small group of students “in a very determined way and without any provocation or even exchanging words.” Pupils who rushed to their schoolmates’ aid – including one non-Jewish ORT student of Turkish descent – also were attacked, according to ORT. The attackers slammed one of them, Nathan M., against a parking meter. “He was severely beaten by the attackers, who fractured his nose and broke several of his teeth,” according to ORT’s report on the incident. Police were called to the scene but the attackers had already left.

The following day, a 17-year-old Jewish female ORT student was attacked verbally and physically in a Metro station. The girl said she was waiting for a friend at Montreuil station when she was approached by a group of five men who she described as “north African.” The report said the five men, one of them wearing a keffiyeh, a traditional Arab headdress, shoved her and told her to keep quiet or they would push her on the rails when the Metro train comes “like they did in Gaza.”

Antisemitism Decoded

Arno Rosenfeld helps you separate the signal from the noise about antisemitism and understand current debates over Jewish safety.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

A third incident was discovered the same day, when security guards tried to detain a man in his thirties who was spotted on school premises. He ran away after telling the guards he was Muslim and that his presence there showed they had security failures, the report said.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount