Merkel condemns attack on 2 men wearing skullcaps

KIRSTEN GRIESHABER
GERMAN.- German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday sharply condemned a street assault in Berlin on two young men wearing Jewish skullcaps that has stoked the debate about anti-Semitism in the country.

In a surprising twist, however, the victim of the attack, who identified himself on Israeli teLevision as Adam Armoush, later told German TV that he wasn’t Jewish, but an Israeli from an Arab family.

Armoush told Deutsche Wele Television that he wore the skullcap to make a point to a friend who said it was risky to do so in Germany.

“I was saying it’s really safe and I wanted to prove it, but it ended like that,” he said.

Regardless of Armoush’s intention, it comes at a time of increased fears of anti-Semitism and indications that attacks against Jews are on the rise.

A video of the attack Tuesday showing Armoush being whipped with a belt quickly went viral with people assuming that Armoush was Jewish.

Merkel called the attack in the city’s trendy Prenzlauer Berg neighborhood “a very horrible incident” and vowed the government would respond “with full force and resolve” against growing anti-Semitism in Germany.

Foreign Minister Heiko Maas tweeted that “Jews shall never again feel threatened here.”