Paris Teen Gets 7 Years For Machete Attack On Jewish Teacher
Benjamin Amsellem Image by Getty Images
(JTA) — A radicalized Paris teenager of Turkish descent who attacked a Jewish teacher with a machete was sentenced to seven years in jail.
A juvenile court in Paris sentenced the teen in the January 2016 attack on Thursday, Reuters reported. The trial began on Wednesday.
Benjamin Amsellem, the victim in the attack, told the news website 20 Minutes on Tuesday about how his life was turned upside down following the attack in Marseille. Having moved to the Paris region as part of his therapy, Amsellem said he now prefers “to wear a hat instead of the kippah in places where I don’t feel safe.” He said he never feared wearing a kippah in Marseille.
The youth, whose name was not published in the media because he is a minor, was convicted of attacking Amsellem and then fleeing the scene after Amsellem fought him off using a Bible to shield his body from the weapon. It was the first time that a minor under the age of 18 was being tried in France for a jihadist attack.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
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 the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
