French Jewish teacher conceals his kippah after machete attack

On the eve of a landmark trial for terrorism in France, the alleged victim of the teenage defendant says he has begun concealing his kippah following the suspected attack.

Benjamin Amsellem, a teacher from Marseilles, tells the news website 20 Minutes on Tuesday about how his life was turned upside down following last year’s incident, in which police say a radicalized youth of Turkish descent lightly wounded Amsellem using a machete in Marseille.

Having moved to the Paris region as part of his therapy, Amsellem, who says he never used to fear wearing a kippah in Marseille, now prefers “to wear a hat instead of the kippah in places where I don’t feel safe,” he says during the interview, which is published one day before the opening of his alleged attacker’s trial Wednesday in a Paris juvenile court.

According to the AFP news agency, which defined the trial as “a sad precedent,” it is the first time that a minor under the age of 18 is being tried in France for allegedly committing a jihadist attack. The youth, whose name was not published in the media, was 15 when he allegedly attacked Amsellem in January 2016 and fled the scene of the incident after Amsellem fought him off using a Hebrew bible book to shield his body from the knife.

— JTA