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Thugs assault rabbi in Ukraine
Chief Rabbi of Sebastopol suffers broken nose and concussion as a result of assault; police ignore incident because of national elections
Yael Branovsky
Rabbi Binyamin Wolf, the head of the Jewish community in Sebastopol, Ukraine, was hospitalized with a broken nose and concussion after four thugs taunted him with anti-Semitic slurs and then severely beat him on his way to synagogue Friday night. The police have yet to arrest the perpetrators despite the fact that they know who they are.
As he was on his way to Friday-night services, two thugs began shouting anti-Semitic slurs at him and, when he attempted to silence them, they began to physically assault him as two of their friends looked on and laughed, the rabbi told Ynet.
"He hit me in the back of the head and my hat flew off and when I bent over to pick it up, he punched me in the face and broke my nose," continued the rabbi.
Two of the thugs fled the scene before the police arrived but their two friends who watched the beating were taken into custody.
Rabbi Wolf said he gave the police descriptions of his assailants but they requested that he refrain from making public any information about the attack in order not to affect the national elections in Ukraine that are being held Sunday. The local TV networks did not broadcast news of the attack and the police claimed that, because of the elections, they would not be able to arrest the suspects behind the assault.
The Jewish Agency envoy to the Ukraine Haim Kaplinokov, said that besides the increase in anti-Semitic incidents in the Ukraine, there had also been an increase in overall physical assaults as well.
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