The rabbi was accompanied by his 13-year-old son in the Mariendorf district of Berlin and made phone calls in Hebrew. An unknown man came towards him, bumped into his shoulder and shouted antisemitic insults.

The rabbi of the Jewish community in Potsdam, Germany, was attacked in Berlin and subjected to anti-Semitic insult, the German media reported.

43-year-old Ariel Kirzon was insulted as a “terrible shit Jew” and physically attacked, like him Radio Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) reported after a conversation with the rabbi.

According to the Berlin police, the state security of the State Criminal Police Office is investigating the attack.

The rabbi was accompanied by his 13-year-old son in the Mariendorf district of Berlin and made phone calls in Hebrew. An unknown man came towards him, bumped into his shoulder and shouted antisemitic insults.

“I was clearly recognizable as a Jew when suddenly an Arab-looking man insulted and attacked me,” Kirzon said.

Following the incident, he filed a criminal complaint for bodily harm and insult with Berlin police authorities.

Berlin police believe that the perpetrator left the scene of the incident in the direction of the subway train station. The recordings made by the video camera installed there were secured, the police said.

Brandenburg’s Minister of Culture Manja Schüle called the attack “unacceptable”. “I would like to encourage Rabbi Kirzon and the Jewish community: stay visible! We stand by your side. For Jewish life in our midst”