You're probably aware that the pro-Hamas, antisemitic violence in the United States is getting out of control, and it is. But America is far from the only place where this plague is spreading. One of the most recent and horrible events took place this week across the ocean in France. In the suburbs outside of Paris, a 12-year-old Jewish girl was raped after being harassed over her faith. Compounding matters further is the fact that her two alleged assailants were 12 and 13 years old. The young girl bravely reported her assault to authorities and identified her attackers who were taken into custody and charged. There is apparently no doubt about their guilt because the little monsters posted a video of the attack online. (Associated Press)

Two adolescent boys in a Paris suburb have been given preliminary charges of raping a 12-year-old girl and religion-motivated violence, French authorities said Wednesday. A Jewish leader said the girl is Jewish.

The attack elicited widespread shock and concern, notably after a surge in antisemitic acts in France since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

The girl reported a rape in the town of Courbevoie on Saturday, and three boys, aged 12 and 13, were detained, according to the regional prosecutor’s office.

It said two of the boys were given multiple preliminary charges on Tuesday.

The boys have been charged with aggravated gang rape on a minor younger than 15, violence and public insult motivated by religion, death threats, attempted extortion and unlawfully recording or broadcasting sexual images. It is unclear what the courts can do with these little monsters, however. French criminal law places steep restrictions on what sentences can be given to minors up to the age of 13, so these two would both slip under the wire. Exceptions can be made in the case of murder, but since they didn't kill the girl, those rules would not seem to apply. They may wind up with an "educational remedy" and an order not to have contact with the victim for at least a year. That obviously doesn't seem like nearly enough.

In the United States, the laws vary from location to location, but in most states, juvenile defendants can have their cases moved to adult court when serious offenses are committed. (Minimum ages vary.) Even some blue states including Maryland have recently expanded prosecutors' abilities to transfer such cases as part of an effort to combat escalating gang violence involving minors. If things have gotten this bad in France, they may need to take a page from our books in this regard.

We have to wonder how this situation even developed in the first place. I can't imagine a 12-year-old just dreaming something like this up out of the blue, though perhaps I'm just being naive. How did they develop such vitriolic hatred of the Jews at that age unless they were exposed to radical antisemitism in their homes or in their school? They seem to have been raised with a complete lack of empathy and respect for human life. To believe that it was somehow acceptable to knock down and sexually assault another child even younger than them is unthinkable.

If we can't throw the boys in jail, how about their parents? I'm not as familiar with the French systems of justice and law enforcement, but the authorities seriously need to dig in and get to the bottom of this. Those two little monsters didn't just suddenly show up out of a vacuum. They learned that hatred and that type of behavior somewhere. And if their friends see them being let off with little more than a slap on the wrist, many other young Jewish children will be at considerably greater risk.