Jewish Man Brutally Assaulted by Terrifying Attacker Looking to “Kill His First Jew”

LONDON (VINnews) — A Jewish man was violently attacked and beaten by a man carrying what appeared to be a knife who said he wanted to “find a Jew to kill”.

The terrifying incident took place on December 2, however the details about the vicious assault have just surfaced for the first time.

The Jewish victim was heading home from work when he passed West Hampstead Square and spotted the alleged attacker desecrating a large public menorah, pulling it down and stomping on it.

Then the attacker approached the victim unprovoked and yelled: “You look Jewish”. He said that he was “looking for a Jew to kill”.

He then allegedly asked: “Are you Jewish?” Trying to avoid a confrontation, the man replied “No,” to which the attacker said: “Good, I want to find a Jew to kill.”

The victim entered a nearby supermarket and called the police. Then he spotted the man verbally assaulting a young woman, so he and a supermarket employee went out to confront him.

The attacker approached the men and allegedly yelled: “I knew you were Jewish, you lied to me. I am going to kill you.” He said something in Arabic before allegedly saying: “I want to kill my first Jew.”

The attacker then shoved the victim as hard as he could with both hands, again threatening to kill him. He punched the victim forcefully toward the head around five times.

The attacker allegedly said: “I am not leaving until you are dead.”

He then grabbed what appeared to be a knife and said “I will kill you now, you Jew.” The victim ran to the back of the shop and turned around, seeing the attacker perform a slit-throat gesture. Amazingly, the attacker then left the shop and was not seen again.

Despite the extreme danger, and a police station located a mere half-mile away, the police told the man that they did not consider this an urgent matter,and that it would take an hour to arrive. They are now facing criticism for their painfully slow response.

Stephen Silverman, Director of Investigations and Enforcement at Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “The delayed response of the police, despite the close proximity of a police station just up the road, is deeply concerning, and the result is that a man who apparently wants to kill Jews is now at liberty. This is the most heinous of a considerable number of antisemitic crimes that we have reported over the course of Chanukah.”

On Thursday police released an image of the suspect from surveillance video, and they are searching for any possible leads.

There have been multiple antisemitic attacks in London in recent weeks.