A rabbi in France was brutally assaulted by a teen as he walked home from the synagogue with his 9-year-old son on Saturday night — as French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the attack as a sign of the “poison of antisemitism.”
Harrowing video shows the moment the teenage suspect begins attacking Arié Engelberg, 45, striking him repeatedly in the head and face as the rabbi tries to defend himself during the horror assault in the northwestern city of Orléans some 74 miles southwest of Paris.
The attacker also bit the rabbi in the shoulder and flung antisemitic slurs at him, according to local media, before a passerby caught sight of the incident and rushed in to help.
WATCH: Rabbi Aryeh Engelberg, 45, the chief rabbi of Orléans (France) being violently attacked in front of his son while walking home from synagogue on Saturday afternoon. pic.twitter.com/WwItizbH2q
— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) March 23, 2025
French rabbi Arié Engelberg was attacked by a teenager on Saturday evening following a sermon in Orléans. X
The assailant ran away from the scene after a pedestrian interfered with the attack. XThe suspect, identified only as a 16-year-old, was later located and arrested. Authorities are treating the case as a hate crime.
“The attack on Rabbi Arié Engelberg in Orléans shocks us all,” Macron wrote on X. “I offer him, his son, and all our fellow citizens of the Jewish faith my full support and that of the nation.
“We will not give in to silence or inaction,” he added. “Antisemitism is a poison.”
The attack was condemned as a “heinous and intolerable act” by Orléans’ mayor Serge Grouard.
The rabbi was with his 9-year-old son at the time of the attack. YouTubeInterior Minister Gérald Darmanin confirmed that the suspect was transferred to a psychiatric facility, where he will be held pending a hearing on the case.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar described the attack as only the latest in a spree of antisemitic incidents that have broken out across Europe in recent years.
“The resurgence of antisemitism in France and across Europe is not only alarming — it is a wake-up call to European governments, leaders, and civil society,” Sa’ar said in a statement.
A police car drives past Engelberg’s synagogue on Sunday. AFP via Getty ImagesJewish groups in the US also responded to the attack.
“Those who downplay, excuse, or justify hatred against Jews by exploiting the war between Hamas and Israel bear a grave responsibility and must be held accountable,” the American Jewish Committee wrote in a statement shared on X.
France saw 1,570 antisemitic acts in 2024, with 65% percent of the incidents involving individual targets like in Saturday’s case, according to the Interior Ministry.
French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the attack and called on his people to fight the “poison of antisemitism.” AFP via Getty ImagesAntisemitic incidents in France and across the world surged following the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack and subsequent war in Gaza.
Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France, said it was wrong for protesters of the war to take out their anger on Jews living in their community, noting that antisemitism remains high despite a 6% drop in cases from the previous year.
“No, anti-Semitism is not ‘residual,’” Arfi said to reactions on X. “Those who minimize, relativize, or justify hatred of Jews by a conflict 4,000 km away bear an immense responsibility.”
France contains the third-largest population of Jewish people in the world behind Israel and the US, with an estimated 500,000 Jews living in the nation.
With Post wires
