Jewish Man Wounded by Machete in Marseilles

In Marseilles, France, on Monday morning, a 15-year-old youth attacked a kippah-wearing man on his way to shul for Shacharis with a machete. B’chasdei Shamayim, he was only lightly wounded, according to police sources. The attack took place in the street and the teenager was subsequently arrested by the police.

The teenage terrorist struck the victim in front of the Town Hall of the Ninth Arrondissement (district) of Marseilles, in front of witnesses, and dropped his weapon at the scene, according to the source. The victim, later named as Binyamin Amsalem, a local teacher, was lightly wounded in the back and the hand.

Having fled the scene, the suspect was arrested about ten minutes later by the anticrime brigade (BAC), a specialist police unit, to whom he made a number of incoherent statements. A source close to the case said, “The individual did not appear to be in full control of his faculties.” Nevertheless, the source added, “The incident will be taken extremely seriously by the investigators.”

The neighborhood where the attack took place has a large Jewish population.