BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — The headmaster of an Orthodox Jewish day school in Buenos Aires was attacked as he left the school.
Moshe Cohen, director of Heichal Hatora, was hit in the head with an iron bar Monday as his assailant shouted "Jew, Jew." Cohen was hospitalized with a serious head injury. The attacker was arrested.
The assault occurred on the eve of Israel Independence Day.
Maria Rachid , vice president of Argentina’s National Institute against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism, said in a statement that the agency offered "a profound repudiation" to the "anti-Semitic aggression" and put its lawyers "available to the family of the victim and to the school."
Leaders of the AMIA Jewish center and Israel’s ambassador to Argentina, Daniel Gazit, condemned the attack, as did leaders of the major political parties in the government and the opposition, in federal and municipal districts.
Dr. Angel Schindel, vice president of the DAIA Jewish political umbrella organization, told JTA that organization leaders are analyzing the situation in order to file a lawsuit at the federal justice department on Wednesday. Argentina has an anti-discrimination law, which penalizes with jail time attacks motivated by racial or religious hatred.
