A group of men attacked a 19-year-old Israeli tourist in Berlin on Saturday evening, in what authorities are investigating as a possible antisemitic hate crime.
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Yonatan Yisraeli was taking a stroll in the capital's Kreuzberg district with his 18-year-old girlfriend while speaking on the phone in Hebrew, according to the Jüdische Allgemeine weekly.
A car pulled up alongside the couple and three men exited the vehicle. One of them tried to converse with the Israelis in German, which police said they did not understand. The men subsequently punched the male victim to the ground. The group proceeded to hit and kick Yisraeli while he was down before fleeing the scene.
Video: Families of victims express relief after synagogue killer sentenced to death. Credit: Reuters
Yisraeli was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was treated for minor injuries to his arm and face. His girlfriend reportedly escaped unharmed.
Local officials said that an investigation had been opened for assault with a possible anti-Jewish motive. The unidentified suspects were men between 20 and 23 years old, police announced.
Israeli Ambassador to Germany Ron Prosor condemned the attack.
"Another Israeli is brutally attacked in the German capital. This is unacceptable!," the envoy wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. "Israelis and Jews should not feel unsafe walking the streets of Berlin or any other German city. The German authorities must take every measure to stop these attacks and incitement against Israel and Jews before it is too late."
A recent report on antisemitism in Germany showed a slight decrease in overall incidents, though at the same time highlighting nine instances of "extreme violence" – the most since the country's record-keeping began in 2017.
The Kreuzberg district, which has a large immigrant Muslim population, has seen several violent attacks on Jews in recent years.
In related news, after a federal jury announced its verdict on Wednesday – that the gunman who killed 11 worshippers in the bloodiest massacre of Jews in US history should be sentenced to death – a small group of community members converged at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood to express a collective sigh of both anguish and relief.
At the gathering of about 40, a mood of hope, solidarity and gratitude prevailed as family members of the fallen addressed the press for the first time since the trial began in May.
Stanley Mallinger is the elder son of Rose Mallinger, who was a healthy 97-year-old when she was shot and killed. His sister, Andrea Wedner, was severely injured in the attack.
"This was the worse of the punishments – not the lesser – and we think that's what he deserved," Mallinger told JNS, of Robert Bowers, a 50-year-old truck driver from Baldwin, Pa, who embraced extreme nativist and antisemitic views.
"All these Jews need to die," Bowers told police when they apprehended him. He murdered 11 Jewish worshippers with an AK-47 and shot two other civilians and five police officers.
After convicting Bowers, jurors had been directed to choose between giving him life in prison or the death penalty. They chose the latter, which had to be unanimous.
Before a roomful of national and local media, Jeffrey Myers, the rabbi of Tree of Life*Or L'Simcha Synagogue, where the attack occurred on Oct. 27, 2018, noted that the jury's verdict came on a significant day on the Jewish calendar: Tu B'Av. The minor holiday, which falls on the 15th of Av, is referred to as the Jewish day of love, dating back to ancient times.
"I don't believe in coincidences," Myers said of the verdict. "It was meant to be today."
Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.
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