Israeli reporter harassed while filmed wearing kippah in Paris

Cnaan Liphshiz

(JTA) — An Israeli journalist who for hours walked around Paris while wearing a kippah to test attitudes to Jews documented multiple threats and insults hurled at his direction.

Zvika Klein, a reporter for the news site nrg.co.il and the Makor Rishon daily, released on Sunday the footage from his walk last week around Paris and its suburbs.

Many anti-Semitic incidents occurred while Klein was walking in the heavily-Muslim suburb of Sarcelles, whereas his wandering through Paris’ center was considerably calmer by comparison, he told JTA last week.

In one scene, a person wearing a black knit cap said “Jew” and walked alongside Klein, who was being filmed secretly by a colleague wearing a backpack fitted with a rear-pointing recorder. In two separate incidents, one involving a man and the other a woman, passersby span in Klein’s direction as he walked past them.

In another part of Paris, passersby called out “Vive Palestine” at him. In several cases, locals hurled profanities at Klein, calling him a homosexual and suggesting he had come to their neighborhood looking for sex.

The video, titled “10 Hours of Walking in Paris as a Jew,” was inspired by a video that shows Shoshana Roberts being sexually harassed repeatedly while walking arounnd in New York. Since it was published on YouTube, her video has registered more than 39 million views.

Anti-Semitic incidents recorded in France has more than doubled in 2014 over the previous year, reaching a five-year-record of 851 instances.