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French Interior Minister Visits Marseilles Jewish Community

Thursday, January 14, 2016 11:03 am | 2 Minute Read

By Vicki Belovski

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve (C) attends a meeting with local authorities and representatives of the Jewish community after the attack in front of a Jewish school in Marseille 9th district, France, January 14, 2016. The teenager who attacked a Jewish teacher in Marseille on Monday is a Turkish citizen of Kurdish origin who said he acted in the name of the militant Islamist group Islamic State, the prosecutor in the southern French city of Marseille said. REUTERS/Jean-Paul Pelissier — French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve (C.) attends a meeting Thursday with local authorities and representatives of the Jewish community after Monday’s attack in front of a Jewish school in Marseille, France. (Reuters/Jean-Paul Pelissier)

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve visited the Great Synagogue in Marseilles, on Thursday afternoon, and met with Binyamin Amsallem, the Jewish teacher who was the victim of an anti-Semitic stabbing attack on Monday.

Chief Rabbi of France Chaim Korsia was also in Marseilles and welcomed the Minister, together the Mayor of Marseilles and other local politicians.

Benjamin Amsellem, the teacher who was injured during an attack in front of a Jewish school in Marseille 9th district arrives for a meeting with French Interior Minister, France, January 14, 2016. The teenager who attacked a Jewish teacher in Marseille on Monday is a Turkish citizen of Kurdish origin who said he acted in the name of the militant Islamist group Islamic State, the prosecutor in the southern French city of Marseille said. REUTERS/Jean-Paul Pelissier — Binyamin Amsellem, the teacher who was injured during the attack in front of a Jewish school in Marseille’s 9th district earlier this week arrives for a meeting with French Interior Minister, Thursday. (Reuters/Jean-Paul Pelissier)

Zvi Ammar, president of the Consistoire Israelite de Marseille, the local religious council, whose comments following the attack caused controversy across the Jewish world, said Thursday afternoon, “This business of the kippah has gone too far. It has surpassed anything that I could have imagined. Ten grams of fabric shouldn’t pose such a problem!”

The Minister and other politicians were all wearing kippos for their visit to the shul.