Jewish man attacked in São Paulo once attackers saw his kippah

"They said that Hitler should have killed more Jews."

By TAMAR URIEL-BEERI
A man wears a black kippah. (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
A man wears a black kippah.
(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
A 57-year-old Jewish man in Jaguariúna, near São Paulo in Brazil, was attacked on his way to a bus stop by a group of three young men the moment they saw that he was wearing a kippah.
The trio first screamed antisemitic slurs at the man. Once they attacked him, the victim had no time to defend himself, he told Buzzfeed News.
The victim reported that one man kicked him in the groin, which made him bend over in pain. He was then punched upside the face, breaking his teeth. His kippah was torn off during the assault and ripped with a pocketknife.
The man filed a police report soon after, but reported that he cannot afford the dental treatments he needs in order to repair the damage. He had converted to Judaism 30 years prior and had never suffered from such antisemitism in any other country he had lived in, including Germany and The Netherlands.
“They said that Hitler should have killed more Jews,” he said, according to Stop Antisemitism, which is part of a nonprofit organization that works to hold antisemites accountable. “[One of the attackers] said the next time they found me it would be worse.”
The Israeli Federation of the State of São Paulo, as well as the 232nd Subsection of the Organization of Lawyers in Brazil in the municipalities of Jaguariúna and Santo Antonio de Posse, reported that they knew of the attack, and had “helped him go to the Jaguariúna Police Station” immediately after it had occurred.
“This is a serious act of antisemitism and racism that we do not tolerate in our society,” they wrote in a mutual statement. “We will not spare any effort with the competent authorities to find and punish those responsible for this cowardly aggression.”
They added that they are cooperating with the military police, municipal police and State Public Security Secretariat to uncover more of what happened as soon as possible and to bring the people responsible to justice, as a part of the fight against antisemitism and racism.


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