Footage has emerged showing the moment that a Jewish man was attacked by a suspect with a belt in Berlin. The attacker called the victim "Yahudi," an Arabic word for "Jew."
The person in the video was one of three suspects that insulted two Jewish men in Berlin's affluent Prenzlauer Berg neighborhood on Monday evening, according to German media. One of the trio was filmed attacking one of the Jewish men with his belt. The attacker can be heard shouting "Yahudi" in the video, an Arabic word for "Jew."
The Jewish man who was being attacked was accompanied by his friend. Both of them were wearing yarmulkes, also known as kippahs or skull caps.
The suspect is then pulled away by another member of his group. This happens as one of the victims shouts "Jewish or not, you need to deal with it" in German.
Adam Armush, the victim who filmed the incident, told Israel's Kan public broadcaster that he and his friend weren't doing anything to provoke the attack, which happened after the men left his house in the direction of a nearby train station. “We weren’t talking with anyone else. Three people came from over there... and started cursing us from over there. We didn’t talk to anyone, didn’t answer them. So when they kept cursing us, my friend asked them to stop cursing, and that got them angry. So one of them ran at me," he said, adding that he felt it was important to film the incident to assist police inquiries.
The video was first published by Germany's Jewish Forum for Democracy and against Anti-Semitism (JFDA). Levi Salomon, a representative from the organization, said in a statement that it is "unbearable to see that a young Jewish man is attacked on a public street... because he is showing himself to be a Jew.
"...Now it's up to politicians and civil society. We don't need any more sermons, something needs to be done," Salomon said.
One of the Jewish men reportedly tried to follow the attacker after the incident, but stopped after the group threw a glass bottle in his direction. Police say they are investigating the attack.
The incident comes amid numerous cases of anti-Semitism in the German capital and across the country. In March, a report emerged of a Jewish girl who was reportedly told by a Muslim classmate that she deserved to be beaten and killed because of her religion. Another Jewish student in Berlin was recently forced to change schools after violent bullying by classmates who threatened him with a fake gun.
In January, it was reported by German media that Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and its sister party, the CSU, are aiming to adopt measures to deport migrants who express anti-Semitic views in Germany. Three months later, the head of Germany's second-largest police union stated that authorities should be allowed to take children away from parents who express anti-Semitic views.
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