A quiet street in Berlin's Charlottenburg district became the scene of a serious antisemitic attack on Saturday when a Jewish man wearing a kippah was allegedly assaulted while walking with his two young children.
The 48-year-old victim was walking along Uhlandstrasse when a 31-year-old man of Arab origin allegedly blocked his path and began shouting insults and making threats.
According to Berlin police, as reported by Bild, the verbal confrontation quickly escalated into a physical assault. The suspect allegedly attacked the father and spat in his face as well as at his two children, who were standing beside him.
Passersby alerted police, and the suspect was arrested a short time later. Investigators are examining the incident as a suspected antisemitic attack.
The assault occurred as Germany released the annual report of the Federal Association of Departments for Research and Information on Antisemitism (RIAS), a government-funded organization operating in 11 German states.
According to the report, approximately 8,700 antisemitic incidents were recorded across Germany in 2025, with most linked to the war in Gaza. The report's authors said Jews are frequently targeted simply because they are Jewish, regardless of their personal or political views.
Among the incidents cited was the assault and robbery of a haredi rabbi in the state of Hesse. The rabbi was attacked in front of his children while the assailants shouted accusations related to the war in Gaza.
The report also documented severe online threats. In one case, a Jewish woman received a Facebook message containing an image of a Zyklon B gas canister-the poison gas used by the Nazis to murder Jews during the Holocaust-accompanied by the message, "Still in stock."
The report further stated that four incidents during the past year were classified as "extreme violence." The most serious occurred in February 2025, when a Spanish tourist was stabbed at Berlin's Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe by a terrorist who mistakenly believed he was Jewish. The victim was seriously wounded but survived. In March, the attacker was sentenced to 13 years in prison.