Boy (16) beaten up in Graz because he is a Jew – Styria

“Last Wednesday, anti-Semitism reached a new level,” said Elie Rosen, President of the Jewish Community in Graz. A 16-year-old student was beaten up in the open near the Episcopal high school. Two young people approached him and asked him about his ring with a Star of David and asked if he was a Jew, it says in a broadcast.

When he answered yes to this question, the two 15- to 17-year-old boys said he should “piss off”. But when the 16-year-old did not immediately disappear, the situation escalated completely. The duo attacked the student. He was slapped in the face several times with the flat hand and the fist and insulted as a “fucking Jew”. The guy suffers from hematomas and several abrasions, his lips are split. He was then given initial care in the Graz State Hospital.

Community demands more awareness in the classroom

“It is a reality that ‘Jude’ is called as a dirty word in schoolyards,” complains the Jewish community. “We need teaching materials that not only improve the teaching of the Holocaust in history classes, but also make the history of Israel and the Middle East conflict current for the students and give them an understanding of why Israel must be such a defensive country,” says the Jewish woman Municipality of Graz in a broadcast.

“Unfortunately Graz is not an isolated case”, he confirms a Europe-wide development explains Rosen, who was deeply concerned about the incident. The head of the Graz Jewish Community accuses society and politics that after such incidents they tend to appease and do not actively fight anti-Semitism.

Agitation of anti-Semitic groups

In the past few months, the Graz Jewish Community has publicly pointed out the increasingly open and visible anti-Semitism in the Styrian capital. She has also repeatedly pointed out the connection with agitation of propa-Palestinian or BDS-related groups.

BDS means the “boycott divestment sanction” movement. A group that is particularly active at US universities and calls for sanctions against Israel. Again and again she stands out due to anti-Semitic statements and actions. This is why it is now also banned in Austria.

Increasing anti-Semitism in Germany too

In Germany, anti-Semitism last increased by around 20 percent in 2018 compared to the previous year. After the attack on the synagogue in Halle, the German anti-Semitism officer Felix Klein demanded harsher punishments for anti-Semitic acts and urgently a new strategy against anti-Semitism.

The Styrian capital Graz is today the seat of the second largest Jewish community in Austria with over 150 members.

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