Teenage thugs in Paris ‘try to rape’ Jewish man after they ‘find image of Israeli flag on his phone’

A Jewish man in Paris was attacked by two men who attempted to rape him after discovering a photo of the Israeli flag on his phone, the alleged victim and his lawyers have claimed.

Prosecutors in Seine-Saint-Denis, a northeastern suburb of the French capital, have reportedly opened an investigation into a 16-year-old and a 19-year-old, both said to be Algerian. 

The 22-year-old was only able to escape thanks to the intervention of passing strangers who heard him scream, he told Le Parisien.

Noam, whose name has been changed, said he had left work and was going to the tobacconist's when he was approached by the two men when they asked him for a cigarette.

The men, he claimed, had been hanging around by the bank of a nearby canal.

After he handed them a pack of cigarettes, they reportedly pushed him aside and grabbed his phone.

The teenagers then scrolled through his Instagram feed until they discovered an image on an Israeli flag and a rainbow, posted by Noam to represent his Jewish and gay identies respectively.

The men then began shouting "dirty f*ggot" and "dirty Jew," Le Parisien reported.

The 16-year-old is alleged to have then pinned his victim to a truck.

“He pulled down my pants, then my underwear. He had an erection, he wanted to penetrate me,” Noam said. “I begged them to stop. I was waiting for it to end, I was afraid they were armed.”

Then, alterted by his screams, passers by rushed over and subdued the attackers until police officers arrived.

"I was very lucky to have them," Noam said.

He was then taken to hospital before he filed a complaint with the police.

"[It was] a triple punishment," Noam said. "I was the perfect target because I was gay, because I was Jewish...

"This rape, because it is rape, it is part of my life. It is like a nightmare coming back."

The two alleged attackers are said to have told the police they were approached by Noam because he wanted to have sex with them.

The pair are known to Parisian authorities over previous thefts and are both of Algerian origin, Le Parisien reported.

The attack in the wake of mass protests against antisemitism across France after a 12-year-old Jewish girl was raped in what police described as a hate crime.

Three boys aged 12 and 13 reportedly approached her, dragged her to an isolated location and hurled antisemitic abuse at her before raping her.

The three attackers were later arrested and charged with gang rape, antisemitic insults and violence, and issuing death threats.

Then Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said the attack was "absolutely despicable, unbearable and unspeakable".

"Unfortunately, since 7 October, antisemitism has been on the rise again in our country,” he added.

Chief Rabbi of France Haim Korsia said: "Justice must firmly punish the perpetrators of this despicable act. No one can be excused from this unprecedented antisemitic surge.”

According to a January 2024 report by the Council of Jewish Institutions in France, there has been a 284 per cent increase of antisemitic acts in France between 2022 and 2023.