French court gives Irish man suspended sentence for antisemitic threat to Jewish couple

A French court sentenced Patrick O'Brien, a 60-year-old Irish citizen, to six months in prison suspended for making antisemitic death threats to an Australian Jewish couple in a supermarket. O'Brien told the couple it was a shame Hitler hadn't finished the job and threatened to shoot the woman. Jewish groups criticized the sentence as too lenient.

A court in Avignon, France, sentenced Patrick O'Brien, a 60-year-old Irish citizen, to six months in prison suspended, after convicting him of making antisemitic death threats and justifying crimes against humanity. The incident occurred on August 11 at an Auchan superstore, where O'Brien told an Australian Jewish couple, "It's a shame Hitler didn't finish the job," and threatened to shoot the woman when she began recording. The court also ordered O'Brien to pay the couple €500 each and rejected prosecutors' request to ban him from France for three years. Jewish organizations, including C.H.A.R. and B'nai B'rith, which joined the case as civil parties, criticized the sentence as too lenient to deter future antisemitic acts. The victim's father is a Holocaust survivor, and family members were murdered at Auschwitz. O'Brien admitted making the statements but claimed they occurred during a heated argument about Ireland's policy toward Israel and expressed remorse.