July 31, 2019

By COLlive reporter

Rabbi Yehuda Tiechtel, Rabbi of the Jewish Community in Berlin, Germany, reported that two men shouted at him in Arabic and spat on him in an anti-Semitic attack.

The incident occurred on Friday night, after he had left Shul in the Wilmersdorf district around 9 pm. He was with one of his young children, he said. The attack came from an apartment building, Tiechtel told WELT news.

“I’ve been living in Berlin for 23 years, and this something I’ve never experienced before,” the Chabad Shliach told WELT.

Insults were not an isolated case, but being physically attacked was a shock to him. “It was a threatening situation, especially because I had my child with me,” he said.

The incident is under investigation. The perpetrators have not been identified.

According to the research and information center anti-Semitism (RIAS) last year, the district Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf with 80 was ranked second among the registered anti-Semitic incidents in Berlin. Most of the incidents became known in the district of Mitte (146).

In a statement to German media, Tiechtel said that despite such attacks in Berlin schoolyards and streets, he was convinced that “most people in Berlin want Jews to be able to live openly as Jews, without fear of being cursed at, spat on or beaten up.”