A member of the Chabad kehilla in Berlin, Rabbi Aviezer Kantor, who serves as a mashgiach at the city’s Chabad House, was attacked on Shabbos while walking with his children on their way home from shul.

The attacker, a 31-year-old Arabic-speaking man, suddenly blocked his path and began cursing and threatening him.

According to Berlin police, as reported by Bild, the verbal confrontation quickly escalated into physical violence. The suspect attacked the father and, during the incident, spat in his face and in the faces of his two children, who were standing beside him. The Arab then beat up the father in front of his children.

An Israeli who witnessed the attack on Uhland Street in Berlin’s Charlottenburg district rushed at the assailant and held him until police arrived.

Berlin police confirmed that the attacker was apprehended and taken into custody pending the completion of the investigation.

The Israeli embassy in Berlin reacted to the incident in a post on the social network X, which states, “They don’t even spare children. Words lead to sentiment; sentiment leads to action.”

The incident occurred at the same time as the publication of the annual report of the Federal Association of Departments for Research and Information on Antisemitism (RIAS), which is funded by the German government and operates in 11 federal states.

The report found that approximately 8,700 antisemitic incidents were recorded in Germany during 2025, most of them connected to the war in Gaza. According to the report’s authors, the hatred is often directed at Jews simply because they are Jewish, regardless of their personal or political views.

Among the incidents documented was the assault of a Chareidi rabbi in the state of Hesse, who was beaten and robbed in front of his children while the attackers accused him of responsibility for the war in Gaza.

The report also describes severe threats on social media. In one case, a Jewish woman received a Facebook message containing an image of a canister of Zyklon B—the gas used by the Nazis to murder Jews during the Holocaust—along with the threatening caption: “Still in stock.”

The report further states that four incidents during the past year were classified as “extreme acts of violence.” The most serious occurred in February 2025, when a Spanish tourist was stabbed at Berlin’s Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe by a terrorist who mistakenly believed he was Jewish. The tourist was seriously wounded but survived. In March, the attacker was sentenced to 13 years in prison.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)