A 17-year-old Madagascar national has been detained as a suspect in the vicious beating of a 31-year-old Israeli man earlier this week on a Paris subway.
Israeli Man Beaten Unconscious in Paris Subway for Speaking Hebrew
Yogev Burshtein was attacked after the suspect heard him speaking Hebrew on his cell phone as he was entering the metro station at Château d’Eau on Monday morning.
According to a report from the French National Bureau of Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism (BNVCA), two “tall men of African origin” began to “shout at him, helped by passengers who threatened him and pointed at him.”
One of the two men attacked Burshtein, hitting him in the head, face and body. The victim fainted and the attackers fled.
Burshtein was later taken to a Paris hospital after a fellow passenger called for assistance, according to the BNVCA report.
The attacker was identified through CCCTV surveillance camera footage, and taken into custody on Wednesday evening.
The suspect was arrested on charges of racially motivated violence. Police are still searching for the second suspect.
“The anti-Semitic motive is clear and must be used against the attacker as an aggravating circumstance,” said BNVCA in a statement. The organization praised the police for their prompt arrest of the suspect, and called for a harsh penalty, despite’s the suspect’s status as a juvenile.