A man accused of a string of anti-Semitic crimes in Austria’s second-largest city has been arrested, police told local media, after the incidents sparked condemnation from the president.
An attack on a Jewish community leader in Graz and vandalism of the city’s synagogue are among the seven infractions the man is being held for, the APA news agency reported Sunday, citing a police spokesman.
The president of the tiny Jewish population in Graz, Elie Rosen, was attacked in the street on Saturday night by a stick-wielding stranger, but was not wounded.
The synagogue was also daubed with pro-Palestinian slogans last week reading, “Free Palestine” and “Our country and our language are red lines.”
“It’s not right-wing extremism,” Rosen said at the time. “In Graz we are increasingly dealing with left-wing and anti-Israel anti-Semitism. We can see that clearly.”
Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition
by email and never miss our top stories
By signing up, you agree to the
terms
There are only around 150 Jews living in Graz, which is located about 80 miles (129 kilometers) southwest of Vienna.
President Alexander Van der Bellen condemned the incidents on Twitter “in the strongest possible terms,” saying that “anti-Semitism has no place in our society.”
Prime Minister Sebastian Kurz also said he was “shocked” by the assault on Rosen.
In 2019, there were around 550 anti-Semitic incidents recorded across Austria.
The Graz synagogue was destroyed by the Nazis in 1938 and rebuilt at the turn of the millennium.
We can't do this work alone.
The war with Iran has been draining for all of us in Israel. But when I heard about a high casualty incident – ballistic missile impacts in Arad and Dimona that left nearly 200 people wounded – I drank a cup of coffee, packed a bag, and headed south.
There, I spoke with Shilgit, the head of an after-school program for underprivileged youth. Standing outside her destroyed center, Shilgit said it was a miracle that no children were hurt and spoke about the community coming together in the hours since.
As a Times of Israel reporter, I’m committed to telling stories of resilience like Shilgit’s. But my colleagues and I can't do this alone. If you value work like this, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to keep real human reporting like this going.
— Stav Levaton, military reporter
Yes, I'll join
Yes, I'll join
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
You're a dedicated reader
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Join Our Community
Join Our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
