Women hold up flags during a a pro-Palestinian rally in Hyde Park, Sydney, Australia, Oct. 15, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Lewis Jackson

A Jewish man has told reporters he is “very lucky” to be alive following a vicious assault he endured in the Inner West section of Sydney, Australia at the hands of a mob of anti-Israel protesters.

The man, whose name has not been released, was walking on Oct. 28 through a children’s playground in Arncliffe when he spotted an advertisement for a pro-Palestinian rally that had already been held and was mostly torn, according to Sky News Australia. He “absent-mindedly” tore the rest of it down, the new report noted, but a father at the children’s playground saw him and approached, asking if he supported Israel and threatening, “I will murder you.”

Frightened, the Jewish man called the police, but they did not arrive in time. An anti-Israel mob of men and women quickly encircled him, shouting slurs and insults, according to Sky News. Someone then thumped him on the back of his head, knocking him to the ground. Then three men joined in and proceeded to punch and kick him while calling him a “pro-Jew dog” among other names.

By the time police arrived at the scene, the attackers had fled.

The onslaught left the Jewish man concussed and with a fractured spine and other injuries.  He reportedly spent four days in the hospital. The man told Sky News he felt “very lucky” to be alive.

“Anyone who may have any information, dashcam footage, or witnessed the incident is urged to contact Crime Stoppers,” the New South Wales Police Force said in a statement on Wednesday.

The incident in Sydney wasn’t the first in which a Jewish man has been assaulted by anti-Israel activists amid the ongoing war between Hamas and Israel, which began after the Palestinian terrorist group’s Oct. 7 massacre across the Jewish state.

Indeed, news of the brutal assault came after another Jewish man on Monday died of blunt force head trauma following an altercation with someone whom police described as a “pro-Palestine” protester at a rally in California. Paul Kessler, 69, fell backward and hit his head on the ground, fracturing his skull and causing brain hemorrhaging, swelling, and bruising.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles has said that an anti-Israel protester struck Kessler in the head with a megaphone, although local authorities have refused to confirm that report or speculate on what may have caused Kessler to fall. The medical examiner noted that there were injuries to Kessler’s face and that the “manner of death” was a homicide.

Days earlier, a University of Massachusetts-Amherst student allegedly punched a Jewish student who was carrying an Israeli flag during a gathering held to call for the release of the over 240 people kidnapped by Hamas terrorists and taken to Gaza. After the alleged punch, the assailant snatched the Israeli flag held by the Jewish student and spat on it, according to campus leaders.

Two days before the Jewish man in Sydney was attacked, a melee ensued at Tulane University in New Orleans in which an anti-Israel activist broke a Jewish student’s nose.

The death of Kessler and assaults on Jews come amid a global surge in antisemitism, especially across the US and Europe, following Hamas’ Oct. 7 pogrom across southern Israel.

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.