A rabbi was lightly wounded in an assault on a Jaffa street on Thursday.
Police are investigating the attack as a possible nationalist or antisemitic incident, with the circumstances still under review, as the search for the suspect continues on Friday.
Rabbi Netanel Avitan, a rabbi at Jaffa’s Shirat Moshe Hesder Yeshivah and Israel Defense Forces reservist who was reportedly recently wounded in Gaza, was attacked while walking on Yefet Street shortly before 7 p.m., when an Arab allegedly punched him in the face, knocked him to the ground and broke his glasses before escaping.
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A yeshiva rabbi in Jaffa, R.Netanel Avitan, was attacked on Yefet Street and was taken to Ichilov Hospital last night
• Police are investigating suspicion that this may have been motivated by antisemitic hatred after the attacker cursed him in Arabic pic.twitter.com/eBFjfz82oG
Avitan said the young man shouted in Arabic, “Allahu Akbar” as he lunged at him, according to Ynet.
Magen David Adom medics treated Avitan for facial and back injuries at the scene and evacuated him with light injuries to Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov Hospital) in Tel Aviv, where he was hospitalized for evaluation.
The yeshivah urged Tel Aviv–Jaffa authorities to take vigorous action to guarantee the safety and security of Jaffa’s Jewish residents.
