Igor Perelman, director of the Jewish community in the Ukrainian city of Ivano-Frankivsk, was stabbed three times by an antisemitic assailant. Photo: courtesy of vikna.if.ua

A leader of the Ukrainian Jewish community in the western city of Ivano-Frankivsk was stabbed by an antisemitic assailant on Thursday afternoon while walking in the downtown area.

A statement from the United Jewish Community of Ukraine (UJCU) said that Igor Perelman, the director of the Jewish community in Ivano-Frankivsk, was stabbed three times in front of several eyewitnesses. The assailant reportedly shouted antisemitic invective while carrying out the attack.

Perelman was treated at a local hospital for injuries to the chest and neck before being discharged. Police quickly apprehended the assailant, a 49-year-old local man, after taking statements from witnesses.

The attack took place on Belvederskaya Street, where Perelman had been assisting at a food bank assisting refugees fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Around 6.5 million Ukrainians have been displaced internally, with many heading for the relative safety of cities in the west of the country like Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk.

However, an initial police investigation into the reason for the attack on Perelman suggested it was not connected to the war, but to a neighborly dispute. The assailant was reportedly enraged after his wife argued with Perelman over a parking space outside their home.

Police said that the assailant would be prosecuted for “hooliganism” under Ukraine’s criminal code.

Last September, Ukraine’s parliament passed a law banning manifestations of antisemitism. In February, less than two weeks before the Russian invasion, the parliament bolstered the law by approving tough sentencing measures for individuals convicted of antisemitic incitement, including hefty fines and lengthy prison sentences.