Orthodox Jew attacked outside crowded Berlin cafe; received no assistance from onlookers

Jerusalem Post ^ | Mar. 24, 2003

[Asher]

Mar. 24, 2003

Orthodox Jew attacked outside crowded Berlin cafe; received no assistance from onlookers

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS - BERLIN

An American Jew in traditional Orthodox dress was assaulted by four men late Sunday afternoon on the capital's main shopping boulevard, police said Monday.

One of the assailants swung at the 21-year-old rabbinical student, striking him in the face, and another threw an object at him, police said. The men, described as Middle Eastern in appearance, have not been identified or detained.

The student was not hurt, but was shaken up by both the incident and the fact that no one at a crowded outdoor caf where the attack took place intervened, said Rabbi Yedudah Teichtal, who runs a rabbinical school in Berlin where the young man has been studying for about six months.

"You always have wild people, you always have people who are uncontrollable. What was really shocking was that no one responded when he wanted to call the police," Teichtal said.

When the student, who was wearing a traditional Fedora hat and black suit, asked to use one man's mobile phone, he responded, "I didn't see anything," according to Teichtal.

The student reported the incident at the nearby Fasanenstrasse synagogue, where he was going to attend a wedding.

It's the second time in less than a year that an Orthodox student was attacked on the Kuefuerstendamm Boulevard.

"I hope the police do everything they can to give us proper security, and make sure this doesn't happen again," Teichtal said.

Security has been stepped up at Jewish sites in Germany since the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States. In Berlin, authorities have proposed permanently upgrading security around the city's restored New Synagogue, including concrete barriers to prevent a car-bomb attack and a narrowing of the street to leave a 4.7-meter (15-foot) exclusion zone along the front of the building.

[Asher]

"When the student, who was wearing a traditional Fedora hat and black suit, asked to use one man's mobile phone, he responded, "I didn't see anything," according to Teichtal."

Nothing much changes in Germany I see.

[zarf]

I'm shocked I tellya!!

[wideawake]

Absolutely disgraceful.

[talleyman]

He was allowed to walk on the street? </goose step>

[dljordan]

Lucky thing he wasn't in France. There are 6 million Muslims in France and the French don't want to piss them off.

[blanknoone]

When the student, who was wearing a traditional Fedora hat and black suit, asked to use one man's mobile phone, he responded, "I didn't see anything," according to Teichtal.


Telling. He didn't ask why the student wanted the phone...he went into denial mode before he was even asked about it.

[TheBattman]

Germany is no less Anti-Semetic (sp?) than it was under Hitler - it's just not PC to be overt about it.

[petuniasevan]

I'm really surprised that Jews would go within a hundred miles of Germany (or France).

Nothing changes.

Peace Demonstrators in France Stab 2 Jewish Boys
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/872665/posts

Criminals carve a Star of David on Jewish coed's wrist (France)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/866865/posts

[Kozak]

He was allowed to walk on the street? </goose step>

Of course. As long as he had this prominently displayed:

[ricpic]

At the risk of sounding racist, I can remember the first day I spent in Berlin. Walking down the boulevards the faces of the lumpen Germans walking toward me were, with rare exceptions, brutally animalistic. Sorry, but that's what I saw.

[2nd amendment mama]

For the very same reasons that most of them are Democrats - they haven't learned anything!

[Asher]

"Telling. He didn't ask why the student wanted the phone...he went into denial mode before he was even asked about it."

Europeans suggest that it is not they who are committing these anti-Semitic attacks for the most part but Moslems/Arabs. This is true, but their anti-Semitism lies in not doing a damned thing about them when they do occur. It's like the 30's all over again: "It was the Nazis not us. Could we help it if we handed your name to them, or better yet got our police to round you up?"

[PeoplesRep_of_LA]

"I didn't see anything,"

This is after he saw his Gold star, for Jude. Pretentious German bastards. Orwell said Pacifism means Pro Facism.

[Maeve]

Those Nazis should have been deprived of a nation state, their language, and their culture as their price to pay for the Holocaust.

[green team 1999]

i understand the muslims attack,for being enemies of israel,
but found the man with the cell phone the worst.

[agitator]

ping

[wideawake]

What a silly comment.

[Asher]

"For the very same reasons that most of them are Democrats - they haven't learned anything!"

It is anti-Semites who should learn from anti-Semitism and not us. Whatever we do, whether we are peddlars or billionaires, nobel prize winners or panhandlers; whoever we vote for, left or right; wherever we live, in penthouse or cellar; whatever, wherever, whoever, we are still subjected to Jew hatred from all quarters.

But if there is indeed a lesson to be learned it is that we can trust no one over the long haul except ourselves.

[Asher]

"Those Nazis should have been deprived of a nation state, their language, and their culture as their price to pay for the Holocaust"

On that basis most people in Europe would have lost their countries. The Nazis only achieved what they did with the co-operation of most countries in Europe.