Marseille, France. Photo: wiki commons.

CRIF, the largest organization representing France’s Jewish population says that an 83 year old Jewish woman who was raped in Marseilles may have been the victim of an anti-Semitic attack.

Last week, a man followed the elderly woman into her home in southern France, before hitting and raping her and stealing her jewelry.

The attack “may have occurred after the perpetrators saw a mezuzah affixed to the woman’s door. A report mentioning this possibility appeared on the blog JSS News,” according to a report from the JTA.

“I just found out. This woman is the mother of a friend, she (the victim) moved to her daughter in Paris and is totally in shock,” Daniele Chemla, a friend of the victim’s family told The Algemeiner. “How can we tolerate such cruelty?”