This report has been updated.
(JTA) — Two Jewish brothers said they were abducted briefly and beaten by several men in suburban Paris in an incident that ended with an assailant trying to saw off one brother’s finger.
The brothers, Netanel and Yaakov Azoulay, ages 17 and 20, were hospitalized in what was described as a state of shock following the incident Tuesday night in Bondy. A case report published Thursday by the National Bureau for Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism, or BNVCA, based on a police complaint by the alleged victims did not initially specify their medical condition.
The brothers told JTA following the attack that doctors were able to reattach a piece of Netanel’s finger that was severed in the attack. Netanel, the younger brother, also had a dislocated shoulder from the attack.
The kippah-wearing brothers, whose father is a Jewish leader in Bondy, were forced off the main road by another vehicle on to a side street, according to the BNVCA report. While the vehicle was in motion, the driver and a passenger shouted anti-Semitic slogans at the brothers that included “Dirty Jews, You’re going to die!” the father told BNVCA based on the complaint filed by his sons.
The vehicle forced the brothers to stop their car, and they were surrounded by several men whom they described as having a Middle Eastern appearance. The men came out of a hookah café on to the side street, according to the case report published by the news website JSSNews.
The alleged attackers surrounded the brothers, then kicked and punched them repeatedly while threatening that they would be murdered if they moved, according to the borhters. One of the alleged attackers then mangled the Netanel Azoulay’s finger with a saw.
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