An Israeli man, Yogev Borstein, was beaten unconscious on the Patris metro on Monday evening after he was heard speaking Hebrew on his phone.

Borstein, a 31-year-old exchange student, boarded a crowded metro train at 6.55 a.m. on Monday morning at the Château d’Eau station as he was leaving a Whatsapp message for his father on his phone. Two men of African origin who heard him speaking Hebrew on the phone began shouting, threatening and cursing him. The men then physically attacked him, beating him until he lost consciousness.

“They punched me several times,” Borstein said. “My glasses were broken and I lost consciousness. It was clear that they attacked me only because they heard I was Israeli.”

A French passenger helped Borstein and called an ambulance which brought him to the hospital. He needed several stitches on his face, his nose is broken and his face is covered in bruises.

After being released from the hospital, Borstein went to the police station but was told to “return in six hours.” Instead, he contacted Meyer Habib, a Jewish Member of the French Parliament who contacted the Interior Minister.

“I asked the Interior Minister to immediately open a police investigation,” Habib said. “There are cameras inside the metro. There is also an eyewitness to the assault who helped evacuate him to a hospital.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)