A suspect was arrested in France on Sunday accused of kidnapping and raping a Jewish woman he met on a dating app in an act of revenge for Israeli military action in Gaza.
The man was detained by authorities at a residence in the northwest Parisian suburb of Gennevilliers on Sunday morning and remains in police custody.
The Nanterre public prosecutor’s office confirmed it was leading an “investigation for acts of kidnapping, sequestration, rape, and death threats.”
According to the French newspaper Le Figaro, the Jewish victim called her mother on Sunday morning to tell her she had been kidnapped and was being held captive in a Paris apartment. The perpetrator is allegedly a man she met on a dating app about a week prior to the incident, according to a police source.
The suspect reportedly sent text messages from the victim’s phone to her mother in which he wrote, “Good luck. You will never find your daughter again, you will never see her again. I will prostitute your daughter.”
Another message was sent to the victim’s former boyfriend in which the man claimed he wanted to “avenge Palestine,” referring to the ongoing conflict between the proscribed terror organization, Hamas, and the Israel Defense Forces in the Gaza Strip.
Police managed to identify the apartment where the victim was being held and conducted a successful rescue mission.
The victim was tended to by emergency responders but was considered to be in good health. It is understood she had been raped.
Little has been reported about the identity of the suspect — his name and nationality are not yet known. French media revealed he had been working as an employee of RATP, the Parisian public transport network.
The investigation is ongoing.
