Security footage of the alleged assault of a Jewish boy in Rome on Jan. 29, 2025. Photo: Screenshot/Castelli Notizie

An Egyptian asylum seeker in Rome beat an eight-year-old Jewish boy wearing a kippah on Thursday, according to police and Italian media reports.

At Rome’s Via Nazionale street, the 33-year-old homeless man — not yet identified by authorities — allegedly yelled at the boy to remove his kippah before hitting the child, according to security video shared by law enforcement. The boy tried to hide between his mother’s legs and covered his face, prompting the assailant to grab him before kicking and punching.

A shopkeeper nearby witnessed the attack and intervened, prompting the suspect to attack him with shards from pieces from a glass bottle as he used a chair to deflect the assault. Other men stepped in to restrain the attacker.

Italy’s General Investigations and Special Operations Division and Rome’s police searched for the man and arrested him on charges of causing the permanent disfigurement of a person’s face with an object. Law enforcement did not charge the suspect with a hate crime or reveal a motive for the assault.

The asylum seeker had reportedly arrived in Rome recently following France and Belgium refusing him entry. He has received international protection status in Italy, but now the Immigration Office of the Police Headquarters has started a review of his case.

In February 2024, the Observatory of Antisemitism of the Contemporary Jewish Documentation Center Foundation released a report showing the increase of antisemitic incidents in Italy from 2022 to 2023. The group identified 454 incidents — 259 online and 195 offline — which included one assault and 40 threats. This total nearly doubles the number recorded in 2022, which reached 241.

According to research released last month by the Anti-Defamation League, 13.1 million people in Italy show higher levels of antisemitic attitudes, agreeing to six or more antisemitic tropes.