Faked attack
The week's news at a glance.
Paris
A young mother whose report of an anti-Semitic attack dominated French headlines this week has admitted she made the story up. The woman, 23, told police that six North African men robbed her on a subway train as she was traveling with her infant. Mistakenly thinking she was Jewish, she said, the men called her epithets and scrawled swastikas on her stomach. Anti-Semitic violence has become so common in France that the story seemed all too plausible. But police became suspicious after they could not find a single witness and files showed the woman had a habit of filing false mugging claims. Political leaders said the hoax should not weaken the resolve to counter anti-Semitism. If the attack had been real, said legislator Dominique Strauss-Kahn, “it would be the 10th or 20th attack of its type.”
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
The Week contest: Flight fraud
Puzzles and Quizzes
-
Is Trump sidelining Congress' war powers?
Today's Big Question The Iran attack renews a long-running debate
-
6 productivity-ready homes with great offices
Feature Featuring an office with a gas fireplace in Oregon and a shared workspace with wraparound windows in Massachusetts