Malmo Rabbi Attacked as Anti-Semitism Surges
A rabbi from the Swedish city of Malmo was attacked by men who hurled objects at him from a car and used anti-Semitic pejoratives.
Rabbi Shneur Kesselman was assaulted on Saturday night along with a member of his congregation, the Sydsvenskan daily reported Sunday.
The attack, which resulted in no physical injuries, came on the heels of vandalism against the southern city’s main synagogue on July 31, when unidentified individuals smashed three of the building’s windows by hurling objects at them.
The assault against Kesselman, who has been the subject of dozens of similar attacks in Malmo over the past decade, happened as he and congregation member Hugo Klein were walking away from the synagogue at 9 p.m.
A car approached them with several men inside who called out: “F—ing Jews” and hurled a glass bottle at Klein and Kesselman. The bottle shattered on a wall behind them.
Earlier that same evening, a lighter was thrown at the men from a passing car.
Malmo, a city of 300,000 residents, is home to a few hundred Jews. A third of the city’s population is immigrants from Muslim countries or their descendants.
Dozens of anti-Semitic crimes are reported annually in Malmo. Last month, a man was beaten there for displaying an Israeli flag in his window.
On April 16, the district of Skane, where Malmo is located, declined the Jewish community’s request to increase the number of security cameras around Jewish buildings, according to Michael Gelvan, chairman of the Nordic Jewish Security Council, and Per-Erik Ebbestahl, director of safety and security in the City of Malmo.
The municipality supported the request, Ebbestahl said.
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