Israeli Man Assaulted in London Neighborhood Treated as Antisemitic Hate Crime

A 22-year-old Israeli man was assaulted by several men in the Golders Green neighborhood of London before dawn on Monday. The Metropolitan Police told The Jerusalem Post that officers reached the scene within six minutes of the call and spoke with the victim. The man sustained injuries to his face and back and was taken to a hospital for treatment.

The victim, identified by The Jewish Chronicle as Shalev Ben Yakar, told the publication that he had stepped outside his apartment late at night to speak with friends from South America. A group of five or six men heard him speaking Hebrew, chased him while shouting in Arabic, dragged him across the road, tore his clothes, and beat him until he nearly lost consciousness.

Photographs of the victim show wounds on his forehead, nose, and cheeks along with bruises on his face and back. No arrests had been made by Monday night.

The Jewish Leadership Council described the incident as an appalling attack in the heart of the Jewish community in Golders Green and called for a robust law enforcement response. The Community Security Trust stated it is providing support to the victim and his family. This incident follows two stabbings of Jewish men in the same neighborhood several weeks earlier.