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NEWS
Two Arabs Attack Jew in Lyons
By Arnon Yaffeh, Paris
Recent attacks against Jews have raised concerns of renewed antisemitic violence in France's Arab suburbs. In last week's attack a 21-year-old Jew sustained severe injuries from blows and air gun pellets. The assault took place as he was walking home from a gemora class at a shul in Villeurbanne, an Arab suburb of Lyons. "Hey, you have a Jewish face. You don't have the look of someone named Antoine. You're Jewish," two passing Arabs said to him.
According to the city's Jewish radio station, after confirming he was Jewish the two Arabs started to punch him in the head and shot at him with an air rifle. The assailants left him lying in the street, suffering from severe head and abdominal injuries until passersby summoned an ambulance.
Local police launched an investigation to try to track down the two attackers, but are circulating a very different account, as usual in such cases, in order to whitewash the antisemitic nature of the attack. A police source claimed "tempers started to flare among the three and a quarrel broke out, and at a certain point two of the youths took out an air rifle." The authorities have a tendency to always refer to Arab hooligans as "youths," regardless of their age. The police did not mention whether or not they shot at him.
The local CRIF bureau released a statement saying the attack was undoubtedly antisemitic and not a regular street brawl among hoodlums. The police tend to view such attacks as clashes between two communities, like fights between Arab gangs in the suburbs.
Violence among Arabs within their own communities is escalating. The police, fire departments and Jews suffer from violent attacks. On Sunday it was reported that four Arabs disguised themselves as policemen, entered a house before dawn in Saint-Denis, whisked an Arab youth out of his bed and shot him in his parents' presence. The AK-47 has come into use as a weapon among Arab gangs in the suburbs.
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