BERLIN (JTA) — A kippah-wearing French businessman was attacked and robbed in an apparent anti-Semitic attack in Germany.
Police later arrested the alleged attackers, refugees from Syria and Afghanistan. The early Saturday morning attack took place at a ferry and train station on the island of Puttgarden.
The alleged assailants were released with the requirement that they report for a court hearing when called.
Police said they called the victim “Jew” in Arabic, threw him to the ground, stepped on his hand and took his shoulder bag that contained money, a cellphone and other valuables.
The 30-year-old Syrian and 19-year-old Afghani were arrested aboard a train heading to a refugee shelter in Neumünster, Germany. They reportedly had wanted to travel to Denmark on Friday but were turned back for lack of proper identification papers.
The victim, 49, after testifying to police, continued on to his home in Morocco as planned. The stolen property was not recovered.
In 2015, an estimated 800,000 refugees from war-torn Muslim countries sought asylum in Germany. Denmark and Sweden have recently reintroduced border controls to stop refugees from pouring in from Germany.
German Jewish leader Josef Schuster said recently that while openness to refugees is admirable, care must be taken to defuse and eradicate the anti-Semitic indoctrination that some Arab refugees might have brought with them from their home countries.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
