Austrian Minister Karoline Edtstadler alongside Elie Rosen, head of the Jewish community in Graz, following the antisemitic assault upon Rosen in Aug. 2020. Photo: Screenshot.

A 32-year-old man convicted by an Austrian court on Thursday for an assault on a Jewish communal leader told the hearing: “I don’t hate all Jews — only those in Palestine.”

The unnamed man, a Syrian refugee who arrived in Austria in 2013, was sentenced to three years in a secure facility for mentally unstable prisoners. On Aug. 22, 2020, he attacked Elie Rosen, the president of the Jewish community in Graz, outside the city’s synagogue with a wooden club.

Rosen survived the attack unhurt after he managed to get back into his car. In the uproar that followed the attack, several Austrian politicians called for the fight against antisemitism to be stepped up.

Identified through the synagogue’s CCTV cameras, Rosen’s assailant was subsequently linked by police in Graz to at least six other crimes — including the defacing of the Graz synagogue with the slogan “Free Palestine,” an outrage that caused Rosen to issue a public statement decrying the rise in “left-wing and anti-Israel antisemitism” in the city. The attack on Rosen took place a few days after the vandalism of the synagogue.

Other buildings vandalized by Rosen’s assailant included an LGBTQ community center in Graz.

Following the assailant’s arrest, the police commented publicly on the absence of remorse on his part. “He is characterized by a complete lack of repentance,” Chief Inspector Fritz Grundnig said at the time. “He is filled with hatred of Israel, Jews, gays, lesbians and prostitutes.”

A similar assessment was reached by a court-appointed psychologist, who assessed that the assailant had a severe personality disorder, could not be dissuaded from his violent extremist beliefs, and posed a continued threat to the public. Separately, the public prosecutor told the court that the assailant remained convinced in his belief that Jews should be targeted for “slaughter” and banned from living in Austria.

Responding to his sentencing on Thursday, the assailant told the judge, “I admit everything I’ve done.”

“I didn’t want to hurt anyone, I regret everything I’ve done,” he continued, before adding: “I don’t hate all Jews — only those in Palestine.”