Israel Matzav

American yeshiva student brutally beaten by Muslims in Venice

The picture may be funny, but the story is not. An American yeshiva student was brutally beaten in Venice on Tuesday by a Muslim-Arab gang. The student is in Venice to visit his family, which lives there.

The student was knocked unconscious on Tuesday when he strolled late at night in the center of the city. A band of 15 Arab youth pounced on him, dragged him into a dark corner and pummeled him, using sharp weapons.

The student lost consciousness, and the attackers fled when a passerby spotted them and called police and medics.

The police are investigating, but have but have not caught the attackers.

The Milan-based Center for Jewish Documentation's Observatory on Anti-Jewish Prejudice reported last month that the number of anti-Semitic episodes in the country soared last year.
The incidents ranged from street insults and swastika graffiti to physical aggression.

''We observed approximately 70 cases so far this year, most of them graffiti and online attacks, over 40% more than last year,'' said Observatory researcher Stefano Gatti. ''The boom might be due partly to more efficient data-gathering, but the episodes have undeniably increased,” he added.

Gatti also pointed out that Italian pundits and politicians ''such as Silvio Berlusconi, Beppe Grillo or Piergiorgio Odifreddi'' are now writing discriminatory posts and telling racist jokes. ''Making certain issues seem normal, even funny, is one of the root causes of the rise in anti-Semitic episodes in Italy,'' Gatti said.

Such incidents are allegedly rare in Venice. 

An individual at the Chabad House in Venice who did not wish to be named told The Algemeiner that the student was recovering and that such incidents were rare in Venice. The source also indicated how the Jewish community would respond. “We will answer evil with kindness,” the source said.

Of course, Chabad of Venice might have an interest in Jewish tourists continuing to come there.... Just sayin'....

Israel's chief rabbis have responded by calling on the European Union to establish a commission to investigate anti-Semitism in Europe.

“Since [the March 2011] Toulouse massacre we often hear of violent attacks against Jews. They are testament to an underlying problem that requires examination and a solution,” Chief rabbis Yona Metzger and Shlomo Amar wrote in a letter to EU President Herman van Rompuy.

Last year, French-Algerian Mohammed Merah gunned down a rabbi and three children outside a Jewish school in the southern French city of Toulouse. He died after a prolonged standoff with French police.

In September, in a Rosh Hashanah greeting, the president of the European Commission warned of a rise in racism and anti-Semitism in Europe.

“At a very difficult time, both economically and socially, when some people, even within Europe, are tempted to reconnect with old demons — populism, racism and anti-Semitism — we need more than ever to uphold, to protect and to promote together our common ideals of peace, tolerance, reconciliation and respect for human dignity,” Jose Manuel Barroso wrote in a message sent to the European Jewish Congress.

The ADL reported last March that anti-Semitism in Europe is at “disturbingly high levels,” with an average of nearly one-third of those surveyed across 10 countries holding “pernicious anti-Semitic beliefs.”

The study found large swaths of the population subscribing to classical anti-Semitic notions such as Jews having too much power in business, being more loyal to Israel than their own country, or “talking too much” about what happened during the Holocaust.

Investigate and do what about it? Given that Europe is being overrun by Islam, do we really need an investigation to tell us that Europe is becoming more anti-Semitic?

And to think that Venice is one of the few places in the world to which Mrs. Carl has admitted she would like me to take her....

Labels: anti-Semitism, Arab anti-Semitism, Chabad House, Eurabia, Italy, Muslim anti-Semitism, Muslims in Venice, Silvio Berlusconi

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:56 PM