Vienna: Rabbi attacked during Chanukah ceremony (UPDATED)

Vienna: Rabbi attacked during Chanukah ceremony

Update 3:

The attacker said in his interrogation that he had been attacked and was defending himself when somebody stuck his finger into his mouth. He's been in Austria since the summer and is now facing five years in prison. (DE)


Update 2:

The attacker came up to Rabbi Gruzman and started insulting the state of Israel, then he punched the rabbi in the face. The rabbi says that in order to prevent anybody else from being attacked, he threw himself on the attacker, which led to the attacker biting off half his ring finger. A nine-year old student later found it.

Gruzman says that he feels safe in Vienna, and that he and his wife often go out, even at night. 500,000 euro have been invested in the security of his institutions.

"I saw his eyes: There was so much hate - a murderous look - against people that he doesn't know. Why do we raise people with so much hate? We'll make no progress in the peace process this way."

The suspect is Mohammed Sch. (30), an stateless asylum seeker who describes himself as a Palestinian. When asked by the security guards what he wanted on the Stephansplatz and what was his nationality, he answered he was a Palestinian, which led to a discussion and then escalated from there.

Source: Kurier (German)



Update: Jewish community response


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Apparently the man is a Palestinian (DE).


A Muslim man attacked a Chabad rabbi Saturday night as he was conducting the annual ceremony to light the public Chanukah menorah in Stefenfaltz Square in the city of Vienna, Austria.


The attacker hurled himself at Rabbi Dov Gruzman, principal of the city’s Jewish school run by the Chabad-Lubavitch Chassidic movement, and began punching him, a local resident told Arutz Sheva.


As the rabbi tried to hold off his attacker, the Muslim suddenly bit his victim, severing part of his finger in the process. The Muslim was caught and arrested by police, and was held for questioning. The rabbi was evacuated to the hospital where doctors rushed to reattach his finger.



Gruzman told Arutz Sheva that the Muslim had raced towards the entrance at the beginning of the ceremony and began to curse the Jews who were there and the Jewish people in general. “I tried to hold him off, to keep him away from the entrance and he bit me really hard, and that’s how he injured me,” he said.


(more)

Source: Israel National News (English), h/t JIHAD I MALMÖ