Machete-wielding teen attacks Jewish teacher in Marseille

Gerber machete/saw combo WIKI COMMONS PHOTO
Gerber machete/saw combo WIKI COMMONS PHOTO

A Jewish man was attacked with a machete by a teenager in Marseille, France, on Monday in an apparent anti-Semitic incident.

The attack occurred just after 9 a.m. The victim, who was identifiably Jewish because he was wearing a yarmulke, is a school teacher who was on his way to work. He was followed by a teenager who attacked him with a large machete, causing injuries to his back and hands.

The teacher then managed to scare away the teenager, who ran off and left the machete at the scene. Before he ran off, the teenager reportedly yelled Allahu Akbar (“God is great” in Arabic), according to the Marseille branch of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France (CRIF).

“We know that it is a clearly anti-Semitic act, a serious act committed a few dozen metres” from a Jewish school, said local police chief Laurent Nunez, according to the thelocal.fr website.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve called the incident a “revolting anti-Semitic attack” on Twitter.