Jewish student badly beaten outside yeshiva in Russia
Victim hospitalized after attackers apparently use brass knuckles to beat him; no arrests reported
A Jewish student was badly beaten near Moscow early Tuesday in what appeared to be an anti-Semitic attack, a Jewish community official said.
Shlomo Romanovsky, a Belarus native, was attacked by three unidentified men outside the Torat Chaim Yeshiva in the Ramensky District of the Moscow Region, a member of the Russian Jewish Congress told Russian news agency Interfax Wednesday.
According to the source, the victim said his attackers, who spoke to each other in a non-Russian language, did not make any demands before assaulting him, and left without taking anything from him.
He added that Romanovsky’s head injuries indicate the men used brass knuckles to beat him. The student was transferred to a local hospital for treatment.
Police visited the victim in the hospital, though he was unable to speak due to the injuries he sustained, Interfax reported. No arrests were reported in connection to the attack.
The attack occurred 20 meters (65 feet) from the entrance to the yeshiva, where Romanovsky was studying. “Shlomo crawled to the yeshiva, where an ambulance was called for him,” the Jewish Congress source told Interfax.
This was the first anti-Jewish assault to take place this year in the area of the Russian capital, according to the Russian Jewish Congress, though anti-Semitic acts are reportedly on the rise.
The Congress promised to “provide all necessary assistance to the victim,” and added he will be visited by the organization’s president, Yury Kanner.
Growing nationalism in Russia under President Vladimir Putin has reportedly given rise to public xenophobic sentiment, including anti-Semitic attitudes, displayed in public rhetoric and political statements, according to the Russian Jewish Congress, which noted a pike in incidents in 2013.
In February, a member of Putin’s United Russia party was accused of anti-Semitism after calling his political opponents “Jews, mired in opposition,” who are conspiring to destroy the country.
Founded in 1989, the Torat Chaim Yeshiva is the largest Jewish educational religious institution in Russia. It was established in response to anti-religious Soviet Union policies, in an attempt to fill the gap of traditional Jewish education.
