Berlin: German political and religious leaders expressed shock on Thursday over an alleged anti-Semitic attack on two men wearing traditional Jewish skullcaps in central Berlin filmed by one of the victims.
One of the young men targeted, who captured the incident on his smartphone, said they were confronted by three Arabic-speakers shouting insults at them, one of whom lashed out at him with a belt.
Berlin police in their report on Tuesday's suspected anti-Semitic attack said that the suspect later also threatened his victim with a glass bottle.
In a twist to the story, the author of the video tape, which went viral on social media, a 21-year-old student called Adam, said Wednesday that he is an Israeli Arab. He told broadcaster Deutsche Welle that he wore the Jewish kippa gifted to him by a friend to see whether it was safe to do so on the streets of his upmarket Berlin neighbourhood.
He said he filmed the attack as evidence "for the police and for the German people and even the world to see how terrible it is these days as a Jew to go through Berlin streets".
"I'm not Jewish, I'm Israeli," he said. "I grew up in Israel in an Arabian family and I think that it was an experience for me to wear the kippa."
The video shows the attacker shouting "yahudi", Jew in Arabic, and later a bruise on Adam's torso.