Berlin's Jewish community is organizing a "kippah march" Wednesday following the assault of a Adam Arush, a 21-year-old Israeli Arab wearing a skullcap, by a 19-year-old Muslim refugee in the German capital last Tuesday. The precession will take place next to the Jewish community building.
The Jewish community plans to hand out thousands of kippahs to everyone interested in expressing solidarity with the Jewish community in Germany by wearing them proudly across the city.
Arush said in an interview to German television that he had worn the kippah as an "experiment" following a conversation he had had with a Jewish friend residing in Berlin.
"My friend told me that wearing Jewish symbols in public is not safe in Berlin," Arush explained.
Arush filmed a video of his assault on his phone. The video shows a young Muslim hitting him with a belt and yelling "Jew" in Arabic. "I couldn't sleep all night after the assault, my body was sore and I don't feel as safe as I felt before and had to be rushed to the hospital to receive medical care," Arush lamented.
Footage of Muslim regugee whipping a Jewish man
(צילום: הפורום היהודי נגד אנטישמיות)
Arush said in an interview to German television that he had worn the kippah as an "experiment" following a conversation he had had with a Jewish friend residing in Berlin.
"My friend told me that wearing Jewish symbols in public is not safe in Berlin," Arush explained.
Deputy Mayor of Frankfurt Uwe Becker with his kippah
The 21-year-old asked his girlfriend, who was with him during the attack, to call the police. The Berlin Police Department confirmed receiving a report of the incident and launched an investigation. Arush gave the police the video he had filmed, showing the assailant's face.
Head of the Jewish Community in Germany, Joseph Schuster, Berlin Mayor Michael Müller and the Jewish community leader Dr. Gideon Yaffe will speak during the kippah march.
Kippah march ad
The commissioner recently appointed by the German government to coordinate government activities against anti-Semitism, Felix Klein, has also showed his supoort of the event.
The head of the Charlottenburg neighborhood in Berlin expressed his solidarity with the Jewish community, writing on his Facebook page that he planned to wear a kippah he had bought in Jerusalem several years ago even though he was not going to be in town on the day of the march.
Frankfurt Deputy Mayor Uwe Becker called on the city's residents to also wear a kippah on Wednesday and show their support of the Jewish community, in addition to posting his own photo wearing a kippah.
Arush told in an interview to German television that he wore the kippah as an 'experiment' following a conversation he had had with his Jewish friend who resides in Berlin.
The German Minister of Foreign Affairs Heiko Maas, who attended an event in Berlin marking Israel 70th Independence Day, condemned the incident and called it a "disgrace."