Jewish journalist films the taunts he hears walking the streets of Paris

published 18 February 2015

An Orthodox Jewish journalist who was filmed being harassed as he walked the streets of Paris for 10 hours is speaking out now that his video has gone viral.

Zvika Klein wore what he usually does, a kippah (skullcap) and tzitzit (tassels), during his walk around Paris, which was inspired by a video filmed in New York last fall that showed a woman being catcalled as she made her way through the city, The Washington Post reports. A colleague carried a backpack with the hidden camera inside, and a bodyguard was also nearby in case of trouble.

The video shows several people yelling out "Jew" and "homo," and others spitting at him. "French media said I was being provocative," Klein told the Post. "But I was mild. I was not in your face." He conducted his experiment less than a month after four French Jews were killed at a kosher supermarket and during a time when anti-Semitic attacks are said to be on the rise. "I did not really know what to expect," Klein said. "I hoped no one would put a knife in me or shoot me." —Catherine Garcia

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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