A rare antisemitic incident in Lithuania: A local blogger and social media activist was arrested after being filmed spitting at three Israeli rabbis visiting Vilnius and urging others to do the same.
According to Lithuanian authorities, the suspect, Gintaras Liutkevičius, posted a video on social media showing him approaching the three Jews, who were wearing traditional religious clothing, spitting toward them and encouraging others to follow his example.
Haredi Israelis attacked by a blogger in Vilnius
(Video: Social media)
“I heard you love to spit on Christians ... what if I spit on you?” he is heard saying in the video. “You need to go home. This is not your home. This is Lithuania — go home.”
Police opened an investigation on suspicion of inciting hatred on national and religious grounds after receiving a complaint alleging that the suspect had publicly humiliated the victims and encouraged hatred against Jews. He was arrested and later released from custody. Following his release, he launched a fundraising campaign to cover his legal expenses.
The Jewish Community of Lithuania said the three victims were rabbis from Israel. They had traveled to Lithuania as part of a pilgrimage that included visits to Jewish sites in Belarus and the grave of the Vilna Gaon.
Faina Kukliansky, chairwoman of the Jewish Community of Lithuania, said the community had contacted the rabbis and offered them legal assistance. She described the incident as disturbing but unusual.
“This is not a widespread phenomenon. Such incidents do happen, but rarely,” she said, adding that the Israel-Hamas war and the broader Israel-Palestinian conflict had contributed to increased tensions. Still, she said Jews in Lithuania were in a better position than Jewish communities in several Western European countries, where Jews are sometimes afraid to appear in public wearing visibly Jewish clothing.
A still from the video documenting the incident
(Photo: Social media)
Kukliansky warned in particular about the suspect’s public remarks and his attempts to incite others against Jews. “These are dangerous calls that could encourage further attacks,” she said. She added that the incident had already prompted concern among foreign embassies in Lithuania, several of which contacted the Jewish community seeking details about the case.
Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky, the Chabad rabbi in Lithuania who has served as an emissary in the country for more than 30 years, also described the incident as highly unusual. He said it was the first time he had heard of such an attack against Jewish pilgrims visiting Vilnius.
“When I arrived here in 1994, people would look at me on the street because of my rabbinic clothing,” he said. “Today, Vilnius has become an international, cosmopolitan city, and people are already accustomed to it.”
According to the Jewish community, the rabbis had planned to attend a large event in Vilnius. Following the attack, however, they expressed concern for their safety, and it remained unclear whether they would attend.