Arié Engelberg was “struck in the head, bitten in the shoulder and insulted”, when he returned from the synagogue on Saturday March 22 afternoon with his son.
A 16-year-old teenager, suspected of having attacked the Rabbi of Orleans earlier, was arrested on the evening of Saturday, March 22, announced the public prosecutor of Orleans on Sunday, Emmanuelle Bochenek-Pure.
The Rabbi Arié Engelberg was “struck in the head, bitten in the shoulder and insulted” around 1:30 pm while he returned from the synagogue with his 9 -year -old son, reported France 3 Center-Val de Loire. The scene was filmed and broadcast on social networks.
An investigation was opened for “voluntary violence committed due to the real or supposed membership of the victim to a religion” against the attacker, who had fled. The minor arrested, unknown to the intelligence services, was arrested by BAC police officers around 9:45 p.m. before being placed in police custody.
“The identity of the person in police custody is not certainly established at this stage and is being verified,” said the prosecutor, because the young man “declared an identity, without carrying the documents which establish him”.
“I immediately understood that it was anti -Semitic”
We do not yet know the exact course of the facts. “What I think I know is that [le rabbin] walked with his 9 year old child, quietly (…). An individual began to film him “Arié Engelberg” pushed the screen and asked him not to film it and it was there that things got complicated and that the individual attacked him, “Detailed Ariel Goldmann, president of the Jewish social fund, on BFM-TV. A witness was also questioned by the news channel.” I saw several strokes, at least three or four, ” Related. “He had a little blood at the level of the neck, he was shocked, it had been violent. I immediately understood that it was anti -Semitic when I saw the attacker kick (…) in the hats of the rabbi. Everyone was a little stunned. “
According to Ariel Goldmann, the rabbi “is fine, he is at home, but he is shocked, of course”.
The President of the Republic quickly reacted to X. “The assault of the Rabbi Arié Engelberg in Orleans shocks us all. I send him, as well as his son and to all our compatriots of Jewish confession, all my support and that of the nation. Anti-Semitism is a poison. We will not give in to the silence,” he defended.
Lagression of the Rabbi Arié Engelberg in Orleans shocks us all. I send him, as well as to his son and to all our compatriots of Jewish confession, all my support and that of the nation.
Lanisemitism is a poison. We will not give in to silence or to Linaction.
– Emmanuel Macron (@emmanuelmacron) March 23, 2025
Like the president, several political figures have spoke. The Minister of Justice Gérald Darmanin denounced an anti -Semitic act. And estimated that this new attack “demonstrates that our Jewish compatriots are very threatened, all over the world and of course in France”.
The rebellious Manuel Bompard condemned the assault which he describes as “unbearable”. The president of the national rally Jordan Bardella deplored a “new demonstration of the anti -Semitic fever which rises in our country, fueled by an incendiary far left”.