An Afghani refugee who was angered by Israel’s bombing campaign in Lebanon repeatedly stabbed an emissary of the Jewish Agency for Israel.
Rabbi Yisrael Taub, who was taken to a local hospital Monday with stab wounds to the head, neck and hands, was later described as in serious but stable condition.
Taub, of Jerusalem, has a wife and five children. He has been in Hungary for nearly a year, serving as the religious director of an Orthodox elementary school.
Another teacher was also wounded in the attack, but was released from the hospital.
Hungarian authorities identified the assailant as Vahab Bashir, who has been living in Hungary under refugee status since 1992.
Bashir was an employee of the Hungarian Health Office and as part of his job, he often visited the Reichmann School, where he carried out the attack.
Hungarian state radio quoted Bashir as saying that he stabbed Taub and the other teacher after hearing news reports on the radio about Israel’s bombing campaign in Lebanon.
Jewish Agency Chairman Avraham Burg reportedly sent safety instructions to all agency envoys after the attack.
The Israeli bombing campaign was initiated April 11 in response to a series of recent rocket attacks on northern Israel launched by Hezbollah fundamentalists operating in Lebanon.
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.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
