A French police car. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

A French court in Monday sentenced a man accused of assaulting a Jewish graffiti artist in the northeastern city of Strasbourg to six months in prison.

The 38-year-old man was also ordered to pay damages of 500 euros to his victim and another 1,000 euros to the anti-racism organizations SOS Racisme and Licra.

The incident occurred on Aug. 26 as the artist was working in the center of Strasbourg on a project commissioned by the municipality. He was verbally insulted and jostled by two men after they noticed him wearing a t-shirt that displayed the names of several countries and cities, including Israel.

One of the assailants aggressively told the artist, “You are a Jew, you have no place here,” before telling the artist to change his shirt — which he duly did.

But when he returned to complete his work, the artist was confronted again by the same man, who grabbed one of his paint canisters and sprayed offensive slogans on the ground, including “forbidden to Jews” and “bitch.”

In testimony to the court, the victim described his ordeal as “the worst three hours of my life.”

The defendant, who has previous convictions for violence and intimidation, apologized to the court for his actions.

He explained that he had been undergoing emotional stress as a result of his dependency on alcohol, lack of success in finding employment, breaking up with his girlfriend and watching videos on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.