Rudy Haddad, the Jewish teenager brutally beaten by an Anti-Semitic gang wielding metal bars, has Boruch Hashem came out of a coma Monday.

The 17-year-old Lubavitcher Yeshiva student had been in a coma since the attack on Motzei Shabbos in Paris’ multi-ethnic 19th district – reported HERE on YWN.

The hospital treating him said Monday his condition was “improving.”
 
President Nicolas Sarkozy, in Israel for a state visit, said Monday the five minors which have been arrested would be severely punished.

“I was particularly shocked by what happened to a young Frenchman because he was wearing a kippah,” he said at a dinner in Jerusalem. “Battling anti-Semitism concerns all French people, whether they are Jews or not,” he said, adding that anti-Semitism “is a stain on the tricolour flag.” 

Meanwhile, the The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) condemned the brutal beating, saying the assault “has disturbing similarities to other violent anti-Semitic attacks in France in recent years” where the victim was singled out by a gang of youths motivated by hate because he was visibly Jewish.

The violent assault was allegedly carried out by a group of youths of African origin wielding iron bars, and left 17-year-old Rudy Haddad in a coma with several broken ribs and a fractured skull.  Haddad was wearing a yarmulke at the time of the attack, according to the Union of French Students.

“This deeply disturbing act of hate-inspired violence is a sad reminder that despite the important steps taken by the French government in the past few years to address the resurgence of anti-Semitism in France, there remains much to be done,” said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director.  “This attack has disturbing similarities to other violent anti-Semitic attacks in France in recent years.  These assaults create a climate in which Jews may be frightened to walk in the streets of certain neighborhoods for fear of being attacked simply because they are Jewish.”

(Yehuda Drudgestein – YWN)