Hedemanstrasse in Berlin, where a young Israeli tourist was beaten up. Photo: Screenshot

Police in Berlin have issued an appeal for witnesses to an antisemitic attack in the German capital’s Kreuzberg neighborhood on Saturday night, during which a young Israeli tourist was beaten up by three Arabic-speaking men.

In a statement on Tuesday, the State Criminal Police Office said it was asking any bystanders who may have seen the attack to come forward.

The victim — a 19-year-old Israeli whose name was given in local media outlets as “Jonathan” — had been walking along Hedemannstrasse with an 18-year-old female friend, whose name was given as Avia, at 10.15 on Saturday night when a car carrying four men pulled up beside them.

Three of the men got out of the car after reportedly having heard Jonathan speaking in Hebrew on his cellphone and confronted the pair.

One of the men spoke to Jonathan in German. “I told him that I didn’t understand,” Jonathan said. “Suddenly, I felt a punch and then I fell. Then the three of them started beating me.”

As Avia wept and called for help, the men carried on punching and kicking Jonathan. “When they were done with me, they drove away on their car listening to loud Arabic music; they really celebrated,” he said. “I was beaten up by Arabs because I’m Jewish.”

Jonathan was later taken to hospital with a mild concussion and minor injuries to his arm and face.

Among those condemning the attack was the president of the Central Council of German Jews, Josef Schuster.

In a tweet on Tuesday, Schuster said it was “shameful” that such an attack could take place in a “cosmopolitan” European capital.

Separately, the president of the Berlin House of Representatives, Cornelia Seibeld, urged police to apprehend the perpetrators of the attack, asserting that “antisemitism and xenophobia” have no place in the city.

RIAS, a state-funded antisemitism watchdog, reported 848 antisemitic incidents in Berlin during 2022, out of nearly 2,500 nationally. A total of 21 incidents involved physical attacks with one case of “extreme violence.”

Despite the steady year-on-year rise in antisemitic outrages in Germany, some officials believe the true number of incidents is much higher because many victims are unwilling to submit incident reports with the authorities.