HALLE, GERMANY – OCTOBER 10: A man with Kippa in front the Jewish synagogue on October 10, 2019 in Halle, Germany. Law enforcement authorities, after initially speaking of multiple attackers, are now referring to a single attacker who has been apprehended. A video, apparently streamed by the attacker live and with commentary from the shooting spree, shows him attempt and fail to force his way into the synagogue in Halle. He then, using what he describes as an improvised weapon, shoots a woman happening to pass by his car on the street and drives to a nearby kebab shop, where he shoots a man inside several times. Afterwards he fires at police blocking a street ahead of him, only to be wounded by returned fire. Towards the end of the video he states that he is bleeding and that he has been shot, and calls himself a ìcomplete loserî in an apparent apology to his perceived audience for not delivering the ìactionî he had anticipated. According to media reports the attacker has been identified as 27-year-old Stephan B. (Photo by Jens Schlueter/Getty Images) A 70-year-old Jewish man was assaulted in Berlin on Oct. 29; the assailant reportedly launched a series of anti-Semitic invectives against him.
The Jerusalem Post and Times of Israel (TOI) report that the victim defended himself from the assailant’s anti-Semitic insults, prompting the assailant to repeatedly punch the victim on his head and chin and knock him to the ground.
The attack ended when another person entered the fray to protect the victim; the assailant fled and his identity remains unknown.
Berlin Mayor Michael Müller condemned the attack.
“It is unacceptable that in broad daylight someone taking a walk is subjected to anti-Semitic insults and then beaten up when he tries to defend himself verbally,” Müller said on Oct. 29, per Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “These kinds of attacks must not become everyday occurrences in Berlin.”
Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt called the attack “absolutely disgraceful” in an Oct. 30 tweet.
“Just weeks after the shooting in Germany on #YomKippur, this is especially horrifying,” he wrote. “#AntiSemitism persists [and] we stand strong with the German Jewish community.”
This is absolutely disgraceful. A 70 yr old Jewish man in Berlin was beaten by an anti-Semite. Just weeks after the shooting in Germany on #YomKippur, this is especially horrifying. #AntiSemitism persists & we stand strong with the German Jewish community. https://t.co/ilUwt1T5he
— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) October 30, 2019
In August, two men attacked a Jewish man in the back as he was walking from a synagogue in Berlin. In July, two men spat and cussed at Jewish Community of Berlin Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal and his son.
The German Interior Ministry reported in May that anti-Semitic incidents increased by nearly 20% from 2017 to 2018. American Jewish Committee Berlin Acting Director Reemko Leemhius told the Wall Street Journal earlier in October, “We have seen a rise in anti-Semitism for years now, we see it across society. We see it on the right, on the left, in Islamism, and in mainstream society. Right now, it feels like it’s coming from everywhere.”
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