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Strangers attacked a former soldier in the Israeli army in Berlin with irritant gas.
As the police announced on Saturday, the 29-year-old Jewish faith in Berlin was wearing a sweater with the symbol of the Israel Defense Forces in the incident on Friday evening.
In front of a S-Bahn station in the east of the city (Nöldnerplatz), the police said the man was asked about his belief.
When he turned his head in the direction of the speaker, according to the notification, he was immediately sprayed with irritant gas on his face and he was pushed to the ground.
The police write of an "anti-Jewish attack on the street".
According to the information, the man could not determine whether it was a single perpetrator or several people who then fled.
The man was cared for on an outpatient basis by rescue workers.
The police state security is investigating the suspicion of politically motivated dangerous bodily harm.
Germany: Highest level of anti-Semitic crimes
Anti-Semitic crimes in Germany last year reached their highest level in 20 years.
The police statistics recorded a total of 2351 anti-Semitic crimes for 2020.
There has not been a year since anti-Semitism was first listed separately in 2001.
As early as 2019, the authorities had documented a previous high of 2032 anti-Semitic crimes.
It is currently the second anniversary of the attack in Halle.
Saxony-Anhalt's Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff (CDU) took this as an opportunity to warn against further polarization of the political debate.
"The change and brutalization of the language is a warning signal," he said at a memorial service in Halle.
"The right-wing extremist attack in Halle shows that word and deed are not far apart."
Haseloff called for moral courage: "Let's draw a red line of decency together: we have to consistently oppose defamation of the other." The attempted attack on the synagogue underlines the importance of keeping the memory of the Holocaust alive and passing it on from generation to generation .
"Not only the schools have to take care of this, but also families, groups of friends, clubs, associations and parties," emphasized Haseloff.
The right-wing extremist assassin Stephan B. tried to storm the synagogue in Halle two years ago.
The attack failed, among other things, because of the secured synagogue door.
B. subsequently shot two people in the city.
irb / dpa
