Anti-Semitism in Berlin: Rabbi attacked in street by Arabic-speaking men

It’s the second attack in the German capital in two weeks. Both are being investigated as hate crimes.

By Associated Press

Berlin police are investigating an attack on a rabbi, the second in as many weeks in the German capital.

Police said Thursday the victim, identifiable as Jewish by his attire, was pushed to the ground by two unidentified suspects while walking in the Charlottenburg neighborhood Tuesday afternoon. They say he was treated in a hospital for pain in his leg and head.

They didn’t identify the victim, but the daily Bild gave his name as Jan Aaron Hammel. The rabbi told Bild the men insulted him in Arabic before assaulting him.

Two weeks ago, Chabad Rabbi Yehuda Teichtel was spat on and cursed at in Arabic by two men in a building in the same general neighborhood. He was with one of his young children when it happened.

“Unfortunately, we have to understand that aggression against Jews, both in schools and on the streets of Berlin, has taken on its own life. But I still think most Berliners condemn it,” he said.

Both attacks are being investigated as hate crimes.

A week before Teichtel was attacked, another rabbi and his two sons were attacked and spat upon in the southern German city of Munich as they left their synagogue.