Paris – In an unusual ruling, a French court sentenced to two months in prison a young Arab man who shouted an anti-Semitic slur at a rabbi and his wife and children.
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The incident occurred on Oct. 12 in the city of Nimes, which is located 60 miles west of the southern city of Marseille, according to an article that appeared Tuesday in the Midi Libre daily about the Nov. 30 ruling at the Correctional Tribunal of Nimes.
Talal Arrouijal, 22, shouted “dirty Jews” at the rabbi, his wife and their four children as they were leaving a local synagogue. The prosecution asked for a suspended prison term of six months but the judge decided to issue the harshest punishment afforded by the criminal code for verbal assault aggravated by a hate crime. Arrouijal was also given a $1,200 fine.
Arrouijal was identified using a security camera record of the license plate of the car he was driving near the synagogue when he shouted at the rabbi and his family, who were not named in media reports in France about the incident.
He apologized in court, saying he “behaved immaturely” by saying things that he said he wishes “can be taken back.” He also said he lashed out at the rabbi and his family because Jews “did bad things to my brothers,” according to the daily.