Overview
- Rabbi Aviezer Kantor, 48, was walking home from synagogue with his two young children on Saturday when a 31-year-old man blocked their path on Uhlandstrasse in Charlottenburg, spat on the children and father, and then beat the rabbi.
- An Israeli passerby rushed to restrain the attacker until officers arrived, and Berlin police arrested the suspect and placed him in custody pending the investigation.
- Investigators have opened a probe treating the incident as a suspected antisemitic attack and are examining motive and possible charges as they collect witness statements and evidence.
- The attack coincided with publication of a RIAS report documenting about 8,700 antisemitic incidents in Germany in 2025, most connected to the Gaza war, which community groups say shows a growing pattern of street and online threats.
- Berlin’s Israeli embassy and Jewish leaders condemned the assault, warned that visibly identifiable Jewish people and communal workers face heightened risk, and urged faster prosecutions and more visible policing to protect families and synagogues.