Individual Claiming Ties to ISIS Attacks Teacher in Paris with a Blade

French media reports that early Monday morning, December 23, an individual armed with a utility knife attacked a teacher, striking him in the back and neck, shouting that the act was a 'warning' and done in the name of the 'Islamic State.' [This claim was later refuted by prosecutors/in this regard, read more] According to French officials, the 45-year-old male teacher was attacked while preparing for his first lesson in a school in the suburbs of Paris, having arrived earlier than the students. According to AFP, the assailant fled, and the search for him has been expanded by anti-terrorism forces, while a team of terrorism expert investigators has taken over the case. French hospital sources stated that the teacher's condition is serious but not life-threatening. There is a possibility that the assailant was familiar with the location and even the classroom. Witnesses told French police that the individual, who had covered his face and was wearing gloves, entered the school this morning apparently unarmed. He shouted during the attack on the teacher that 'this is ISIS. This is a warning.' The school where the teacher was injured is located in 'Aubervilliers' in the 'Saint-Denis' area north of Paris. Last month, French counter-terrorism forces killed Abdelhamid Abaaoud, one of the perpetrators of last month's Paris attacks, and his wife, who was wearing an explosive vest, in a raid on a house in 'Saint-Denis.' ISIS had previously called on its supporters through its publication 'Dar al-Islam' to not hesitate in killing teachers in France. ISIS stated that secular teachings are being conveyed by teachers in France and that they should be killed as punishment for 'enmity against Allah.' ISIS emphasized that teachers in France have waged an 'open war' against Muslim families and that the French educational system is in conflict with the teachings of Islam. According to AFP, following the attack on the teacher in the Paris suburbs, the French Minister of Education stated that the dangers posed by ISIS are 'real and ongoing,' and all public places, including schools, must be secured. The attack on the teacher occurred one month after deadly attacks by ISIS members in several locations in Paris; attacks that shocked France and the Western world, leaving 130 dead and dozens injured, significantly impacting all of Europe. The three-month state of emergency declared after last month's Paris attacks is still ongoing. Since last month, France has joined countries attacking ISIS positions in Syria in response to the attacks, but it is unclear how much these airstrikes have weakened ISIS's capabilities. The attack on the school teacher in the Paris suburbs comes after a recent incident where a man in the East London subway, reportedly shouting 'this is for Syria,' stabbed three people. London police, after arresting the assailant, stated that they consider his action a 'terrorist attack.' The attack on the teacher in the Paris suburbs is not the first of its kind in France; in 2012, Mohamed Merah, a radical Islamist of French-Algerian descent, killed a teacher and three Jewish students in southern France.