Argentina's chief rabbi was beaten and seriously injured by assailants who broke into his home, in an attack condemned on Tuesday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as part of an anti-Semitic wave.
The attack on Gabriel Davidovich, 56, came one day after the desecration of Jewish graves in Argentina's central San Luis province.
Jorge Knoblovits, the president of the Delegation of Argentina Jewish Associations, said seven men were involved in the assault on Davidovich Monday in Buenos Aires.
The assault was condemned by Argentine President Mauricio Macri.
"We reject the attack on Chief Rabbi Gabriel Davidovich in his home," Macri tweeted.
Davidovich "has our support in the investigation to find who was responsible," he said.
In a statement from Israel, Netanyahu said Davidovich and his wife were "viciously assaulted."
"We must not let anti-Semitism rear its head. I strongly condemn the recent acts of anti-Semitism and call on the international community to take action against it," Netanyahu said.
The attack comes against the background of increased anti-Semitism in western countries.
Germany has watched with alarm as anti-Semitic offenses rose almost 10 percent last year in an increasingly polarized political climate.
Leading members of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party -- now the biggest opposition group in parliament -- have made comments that play down the Holocaust.
In France, President Emmanuel Macron told Jewish community leaders last week that anti-Semitism had reached its worst levels since World War II.
"Our country, and for that matter all of Europe and most Western democracies, seems to be facing a resurgence of anti-Semitism unseen since World War II," Macron told an annual gathering of French Jewish institutions last week.
He was speaking after nearly 100 Jewish tombstones were spray-painted with blue and yellow swastikas at a cemetery in the Alsace region near Germany.
- Attack an 'anti-Semitic act' -
Argentina has one of the largest Jewish communities in the world, with around 300,000 people.
The rabbi and his wife put up no resistance, but the assailants threw Davidovich to the ground.
"They broke nine of his ribs, affecting a lung, and left him disfigured," Knoblovits said.
They made away with money and personal effects, he said.
But Knoblovits said the robbery was merely a pretext for "an anti-Semitic act."
"In the world, there is a lot of room for ignorance, and where there is ignorance, there is space for anti-Semites," he said.
Isaac Herzog, chairman of the Jewish Agency, a quasi-governmental body that deals with Jewish immigration to Israel, said he has spoken personally to the rabbi.
"He suffers from severe pain and fractures, but his spirit is strong. I had the sense from his remarks that the incident had obvious anti-Semitic characteristics. I wished him a full recovery from all of us."
The attack occurred just after the weekend desecration of nine tombs in a Jewish cemetery in the province of San Luis.
Local politician Ariel Braverman condemned the desecration as a "horrible act of neo-Nazism, intolerance and hatred by sectors that maintain a medieval obscurantism."
- 1990s bombings of Jewish targets -
Argentina's Jewish community has experienced brutal attacks in the past.
The headquarters of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association was the target of a 1994 bombing that killed 85 people and wounded 300.
Two years earlier a suicide bomber killed 29 in an attack on Israel's embassy in Buenos Aires.
Both bombings have been blamed on Iran-supported operations by the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, but Iran has denied responsibility.
In 2017 Netanyahu visited Argentina and attended memorial ceremonies for both attacks.
Argentina’s chief rabbi was beaten and seriously injured by assailants who broke into his home, in an attack condemned on Tuesday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as part of an anti-Semitic wave.
The attack on Gabriel Davidovich, 56, came one day after the desecration of Jewish graves in Argentina’s central San Luis province.
Jorge Knoblovits, the president of the Delegation of Argentina Jewish Associations, said seven men were involved in the assault on Davidovich Monday in Buenos Aires.
The assault was condemned by Argentine President Mauricio Macri.
“We reject the attack on Chief Rabbi Gabriel Davidovich in his home,” Macri tweeted.
Davidovich “has our support in the investigation to find who was responsible,” he said.
In a statement from Israel, Netanyahu said Davidovich and his wife were “viciously assaulted.”
“We must not let anti-Semitism rear its head. I strongly condemn the recent acts of anti-Semitism and call on the international community to take action against it,” Netanyahu said.
The attack comes against the background of increased anti-Semitism in western countries.
Germany has watched with alarm as anti-Semitic offenses rose almost 10 percent last year in an increasingly polarized political climate.
Leading members of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party — now the biggest opposition group in parliament — have made comments that play down the Holocaust.
In France, President Emmanuel Macron told Jewish community leaders last week that anti-Semitism had reached its worst levels since World War II.
“Our country, and for that matter all of Europe and most Western democracies, seems to be facing a resurgence of anti-Semitism unseen since World War II,” Macron told an annual gathering of French Jewish institutions last week.
He was speaking after nearly 100 Jewish tombstones were spray-painted with blue and yellow swastikas at a cemetery in the Alsace region near Germany.
– Attack an ‘anti-Semitic act’ –
Argentina has one of the largest Jewish communities in the world, with around 300,000 people.
The rabbi and his wife put up no resistance, but the assailants threw Davidovich to the ground.
“They broke nine of his ribs, affecting a lung, and left him disfigured,” Knoblovits said.
They made away with money and personal effects, he said.
But Knoblovits said the robbery was merely a pretext for “an anti-Semitic act.”
“In the world, there is a lot of room for ignorance, and where there is ignorance, there is space for anti-Semites,” he said.
Isaac Herzog, chairman of the Jewish Agency, a quasi-governmental body that deals with Jewish immigration to Israel, said he has spoken personally to the rabbi.
“He suffers from severe pain and fractures, but his spirit is strong. I had the sense from his remarks that the incident had obvious anti-Semitic characteristics. I wished him a full recovery from all of us.”
The attack occurred just after the weekend desecration of nine tombs in a Jewish cemetery in the province of San Luis.
Local politician Ariel Braverman condemned the desecration as a “horrible act of neo-Nazism, intolerance and hatred by sectors that maintain a medieval obscurantism.”
– 1990s bombings of Jewish targets –
Argentina’s Jewish community has experienced brutal attacks in the past.
The headquarters of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association was the target of a 1994 bombing that killed 85 people and wounded 300.
Two years earlier a suicide bomber killed 29 in an attack on Israel’s embassy in Buenos Aires.
Both bombings have been blamed on Iran-supported operations by the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, but Iran has denied responsibility.
In 2017 Netanyahu visited Argentina and attended memorial ceremonies for both attacks.
