Tzion Saadon, 45, a Jewish history teacher living in Marseilles, south France, last November told reporters he had been attacked by three ISIS jihadists who came at him riding on two scooters, one of them wearing an ISIS T-shirt, and slashed him in the arms, legs and stomach.
Saadon was taken to hospital and police began a manhunt for the attackers, who had reportedly fled when a police patrol arrived in the area. Marseilles prosecutor Brice Robin told the press at the time: “The three people insulted, threatened and then stabbed their victim in the arm and leg. They were interrupted by the arrival of a car and fled.”
Now it appears that none of that really happened. On Wednesday, following a three-month investigation, police picked up Saadon, who works at the Yavne Jewish school in Marseilles, and are charging him with lying to police and disrupting an inquiry.
Saadon is part of a kind of trend of false reporting of jihadist attacks in France. According to the Daily Mail, Stephane Aroule, 45, is also being accused of fabricating a stabbing by Muslims. He also described a man wearing a balaclava and carrying a box cutter and scissors who had entered a nursery school in a Parisian suburb — which, naturally, started a false terror alert. Aroule is being charged with reporting imaginary crimes, and is facing six months in prison and a fine of about $7,650.
