83-Year-Old Attacked at German Pro-Israel March
Members of a German pro-Israel group were injured in an attack while demonstrating solidarity with three Israeli teens kidnapped in the West Bank.
A complaint was lodged with local police.
The incident took place at a national “Bring Back Our Boys” rally in Hamburg on June 19, organized by the Young Forum of the German-Israel Society and the Hamburg for Israel network, the Juedische Allgemeine, Germany’s main Jewish newspaper, reported Monday.
A counter-demonstrator reportedly threw an 83-year-old man to the ground. The man’s daughter was assaulted physically and verbally while trying to protect him. The man was treated in the hospital for a head wound.
The counter-demonstration reportedly was organized by the German branch of the anti-globalization ATTAC group. Dieter Graumann, head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, told the Allgemeine he was shocked and extremely worried that “this kind of pure hatred against Israel not only exists in Germany but is expressed in violent assaults.”
He said he counted on local authorities to “quickly apprehend the perpetrators and bring them to justice.”
Ina Dinslage, spokesperson for the young forum in Hamburg, told the Allgemeine she was shocked at the attack. “We wanted to show our solidarity with the kidnapped teens,” she said.
Graumann said he hoped for more such demonstrations for democracy and peace, “values that Israel has always stood for.”
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