The victim, believed to be in her 30s, was knifed twice in the stomach after going to answer the doorbell on Saturday (Picture: EPA)
A Jewish woman was stabbed in her own home in the French city of Lyon, with police also finding a swastika painted on her door.
The victim, believed to be in her 30s, was knifed twice in the stomach after going to answer the doorbell on Saturday, police said. They said the male attacker, clad all in black with his face covered, remains at large after fleeing the scene.
‘Such an act of violence is unthinkable. I offer all my support to the victim and her relatives,’ said Lyon Mayor Gregory Doucet on the social media platform X.
It comes amid a wave of anti-Semitic offences in the wake of Hamas’s attack on Israel and the retaliatory bombing campaign that has followed over the past four weeks.
Those have ranged from verbal abuse and graffiti to physical assaults and death threats.
An investigating source said the woman’s home was identified as Jewish as there was a mezuzah – a piece of parchment containing Jewish scripture – on the doorframe, MailOnline reports.
Although a spokesman for the national police could not confirm whether it is being treated as a hate crime, the source said: ‘Early enquires suggest an anti-Semitic murder attempt, especially since a Nazi Swastika was spray painted by the attacker on the front door, before he left.’
A spokesman for Lyon prosecutors said: ‘The initial findings have led the prosecution to open an investigation into attempted murder aggravated by the fact that the act could be motivated by an anti-Semitic motive.’
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said there have been ‘857 anti-Semitic acts’ in France since the outbreak of violence in Israel and Palestine on October 7.
Daniel Dahan, Chief Rabbi of Lyon, said 36 of these anti-Semitic acts have been recorded in Lyon.
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‘Early enquires suggest an anti-Semitic murder attempt.’