A young woman lodged a complaint after witnessing an antisemitic incident on the Paris Métro last Wednesday.
According to the passenger’s account, a man burst into the train at the Richard-Lenoir station in the 11th arrondissement, spitting at a young girl and her parents while calling them “bastards, bastards” and “youpins,” the latter a racially offensive French word for Jews derived from the Arabic word for Jew, “yaoudi.”
“You bastards, you’re committing crimes against humanity,” he screamed, according to the witness, who said he also shouted: “Hitler was right, he should have killed all the Jews.’’
On hearing these insults, the woman, aged 25, grabbed her cell phone to film the assailant and report the incident. She also tried in vain to silence him. “I’m going to press charges against you,” she can be heard saying in the footage she filmed. In return, she was insulted.
“I decided to intervene and film it. I couldn’t help myself. It was impossible for me not to react, even though I was very scared,” the young woman told a lawyer. She said she was shocked to be the only one in the car to react.
France has seen a sharp rise in antisemitic acts since Oct. 7. A total of 1,200 attacks have been recorded, including 887 in the first half of 2024, according to Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin.
Originally published by the European Jewish Press.
