French Jewish family apparently targeted in home attack

A family that was assaulted and robbed in their suburban Paris home may have been targeted because they are Jewish, a watchdog group says.

The report Wednesday by the National Bureau for Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism, or BNVCA, was about an aggravated robbery that occurred earlier in the day in Le Blanc-Mesnil.

Three masked men of African descent armed with handguns sequestered the family, two parents and their daughter, according to BNVCA. One or more of the men also attacked the daughter, causing “serious injuries” that required hospitalization, the report adds. The parents were injured as well and hospitalized.

BNVCA says the perpetrators told the family they had targeted their home because they were Jewish and have money.

The perpetrators stole 2,500 euros, about $2,740, in cash, a Mercedes car and keys to the family’s jewelry shop in Paris’ 10th arrondissement, or district.

“This attack bears an uncanny resemblance to the attack committed recently in Creteil,” BNVCA writes in reference to the rape and robbery committed in December in that Paris suburb against a Jewish couple by robbers who said they were targeted because they were Jews. “The cliche that Jews have money remains strong in people’s minds.”

— JTA