An Israeli professor was visiting Germany, only to be assaulted by a Palestinian. The police responded to the incident by attacking… the professor.
The Times of Israel (TOI) reports that the 50-year-old University of Baltimore philosophy professor, who has not been publicly identified, was walking through a park in the city of Bonn with a friend. The 20-year-old Palestinian, who has also not been identified, took umbrage at the yarmulke the professor was wearing and knocked it off numerous times as he shouted “No Jew in Germany!”
The Palestinian also smacked the professor’s shoulder and shoved him.
The professor, who was in Germany as a guest lecturer, attempted to defend himself, as he chased after the Palestinian. The police, however, according to TOI, thought that this meant the professor was the aggressor – especially after he didn’t comply with their calls to stand down. They initially went after the professor, resulting in an altercation where “he was hit in the face and wrestled to the ground” by police, according to TOI.
Eventually, the professor’s friend explained to the police what had transpired, prompting the police to arrest the Palestinian and apologize to the professor.
“A terrible and regrettable misunderstanding in the field, for which I have expressly apologized to the professor concerned,” Bonn police chief Ursula Brohl-Sawa said in a statement. “We will examine exactly how this situation came about and do everything possible to avoid such misunderstandings in the future.”
The Palestinian was eventually released from detainment, but he faces charges of assault and incitement. The police are saying he was under the influence of drugs at the time of the assault.
Simon Wiesenthal Center Associate Dean Rabbi Abraham Cooper slammed the Bonn police’s actions in a statement.
“It is difficult to fathom how a middle-aged professor wearing a kippah would be identified as the perpetrator,” Cooper said. “Then comes word that the suspect, rather than being held in jail, received a psychiatric evaluation and then sent home? We are deeply concerned that in Germany, France, and The Netherlands, that ‘psychiatric evaluations’ are being used to whitewash anti-Semitic acts instead of confronting and dealing forthrightly with violent Jew-hatred.”
Cooper added, “During his recent visit to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, we told German President Steinmeier of our concerns that German authorities aren’t doing anything to confront the anti-Semitism that many Arabs and Muslims in Germany harbor. The incident in Bonn is yet another indication that Germany is not yet taking this source of anti-Semitism seriously enough. The Wiesenthal Center urges Chancellor Merkel’s government to expand the budget and powers of Felix Klein the Anti-Semitism Commissioner to ensure police and other state entities are properly trained to respond to such hateful attacks.”
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