Muslim owner of torched Paris kosher shop: ‘I just feel sick’
PARIS — The Muslim owner of a French grocery store said he was sickened by suspected arson attack on Tuesday that gutted his kosher business.
“I just feel sick,” said the store’s owner, a 44-year-old Muslim who asked to remain anonymous.
“I’m Muslim. I work in a Jewish shop. There is no incompatibility there,” said the businessman, who was briefly hospitalized with shock after seeing the extent of the damage.
The attack revived anti-Semitism fears, as it came three years to the day since a deadly terror attack on a Jewish supermarket by an Islamist terrorist that killed four Jews.
Prosecutors said the store in the southern Paris suburb of Creteil caught fire in the early hours, days after it was vandalized with anti-Semitic graffiti.
Anti-semitism watchdog BNVCA said that the attack was intended to “punish” the Muslim owner for his links with the Jewish community.
A source close to the police probe said it was “too soon to discuss motives, ” though Creteil prosecutor Laure Beccuau said investigators do not believe the fire was an accident.
The Promo & Destock store was one of two neighboring kosher shops in working-class Creteil that were daubed with swastikas last Wednesday.
The second store was also slightly damaged in the fire.
Times Of Israel
“I just feel sick,” said the store’s owner, a 44-year-old Muslim who asked to remain anonymous.
“I’m Muslim. I work in a Jewish shop. There is no incompatibility there,” said the businessman, who was briefly hospitalized with shock after seeing the extent of the damage.
The attack revived anti-Semitism fears, as it came three years to the day since a deadly terror attack on a Jewish supermarket by an Islamist terrorist that killed four Jews.
Prosecutors said the store in the southern Paris suburb of Creteil caught fire in the early hours, days after it was vandalized with anti-Semitic graffiti.
Anti-semitism watchdog BNVCA said that the attack was intended to “punish” the Muslim owner for his links with the Jewish community.
A source close to the police probe said it was “too soon to discuss motives, ” though Creteil prosecutor Laure Beccuau said investigators do not believe the fire was an accident.
The Promo & Destock store was one of two neighboring kosher shops in working-class Creteil that were daubed with swastikas last Wednesday.
The second store was also slightly damaged in the fire.
Times Of Israel
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