A 48-year-old Jewish man wearing a kippah was assaulted on Saturday in Berlin’s Charlottenburg district while walking with his two young children. Police said a 31-year-old man of Arab origin blocked his path on Uhlandstrasse, shouted insults and threats, and quickly escalated the confrontation into physical violence, according to reports in Bild.
The suspect allegedly spat in the father’s face and at both children. Passersby called police, and the man was arrested shortly afterward. Berlin police are investigating whether the attack was motivated by antisemitism.
The assault came as the Federal Association for Research and Information on Antisemitism, or RIAS, released its annual report. Funded by the German government and active in 11 federal states, RIAS said about 8,700 anti-Jewish hate incidents were recorded in Germany in 2025, most linked to the war in Gaza. The report said hatred is often directed at Jews regardless of their personal or political views.
Among the cases cited was the beating and robbery of an ultra-Orthodox rabbi in Hesse in front of his children, with the attackers accusing him of ties to the Gaza war. The report also documented severe online threats, including a Jewish woman in Facebook receiving an image of a Zyklon B gas canister with the message, "still in stock." RIAS said four incidents over the past year were classified as "extreme 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 an attacker who mistakenly believed he was Jewish. The tourist was badly wounded but survived, and the attacker received a 13-year prison sentence in March.
