French court gives Irish man suspended sentence for antisemitic threat to Jewish couple
Patrick O’Brien, 60, told an Australian Jewish couple it was a shame Hitler hadn’t finished the job, then threatened to shoot the wife. Jewish groups say the sentence is too lenient.
On Friday, a court in Avignon, southern France, handed down a six-month suspended prison sentence to 60-year-old Patrick OBrien, a citizen of Ireland. OBrien was convicted of making antisemitic threats and justifying crimes against humanity, both of which are criminal offenses in France. The charges stemmed from a confrontation at a supermarket in Le Pontet, near Avignon, on August 11, where OBrien, a Dublin native, threatened to kill a Jewish couple from Australia after they pointed out his Ireland-Israel policy stance to him.
The couple, who were Ausralians, had been having a friendly conversation with OBrien about the French national soccer team when the conversation shifted to Ireland's stance on Israel. When OBrien became aggressive and made antisemitic remarks, the woman recorded him and threatened to put a bullet in her head when he attempted to shoot her.
The video quickly went viral, causing outrage in France and beyond. The Jewish organizations that joined the case, including C.H.A.R., a group that combats hatred, antisemitism, and racism, criticized the lenient sentence, stating that it sends a dangerous message amid growing antisemitism concerns in France.
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