(JTA) — A French judge convicted a Muslim man of a hate crime for assaulting a Jewish optician while shouting about Allah.
On Oct. 4, Sliman Ouaki assaulted the owner of the Optical Center shop in Toulon near Marseille while shouting “Allah hu akbar,” Arabic for Allah is the greatest, the BNVCA watchdog on anti-Semitism reported last week.
Ouaki targeted the shop owner, who was not named, because he had a mezuzah on the front door, the report said.
The victim sustained minor injuries and was unable to work for two days, the report said.
The Correctional Tribunal of Toulon convicted Ouaki of a physical assault aggravated by racist hatred and sentenced him to prison. It also imposed penalties as compensation for the victim.
BNVCA has often criticized French courts for being too lax on perpetrators of anti-Jewish hate crimes, but it lauded the Toulon court for its “firmness and fairness” in the ruling.
The defendant last month exhausted his right to appeal.
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