Berlin: Attack on Lahav Shapira – Central Council of Jews calls for a “safe environment” for Jewish students

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Central Council President Schuster: “Jewish students are being threatened”

Photo: Jürgen Heinrich / IMAGO

After an attack on a student at the Free University of Berlin in Berlin, the President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster, demanded that universities should not become “no-go areas for Jews”. “At the latest when the verbal violence turns into physical violence, the threat situation should be clear to everyone,” Schuster told the “Bild” newspaper. "Jewish students are threatened and are also in danger outside the campus."

Schuster continued: “It is all the more important that universities do not become no-go areas for Jews.” Rather, universities must “create a safe environment for Jewish students and not give any room to extremists.”

The 30-year-old Jewish student Lahav Shapira was beaten to the point of hospital on Saturday night in the Mitte district by a 23-year-old fellow student who is said to have represented pro-Palestinian positions. According to police, this was preceded by an argument between the two students.

Was there an argument?

However, a companion of Shapira told “Zeit Online” that there had been no argument between the two men. Accordingly, the fellow student recognized Shapira in a bar and followed him when Shapira and she left the bar. On the street, the later attacker asked Shapira about his commitment to Jewish students at the university and then struck. (Read more about the incident here)

Since Hamas' terrorist attack on Israel and Israel's counterattack in the Gaza Strip, a conflict has been simmering between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel students at the FU Berlin. Lahav Shapira is the brother of satirist Shahak Shapira.

bbr/AFP