Eighteen-year-old Joshua Levy was reportedly punched in the face at a Scouts camp in Lardner Park in West Gippsland, Australia, on Saturday afternoon. Levy was wearing a kippah and carrying an Israeli flag when he was assaulted. Victorian police are investigating the incident as a possible hate crime.

The young man was first verbally abused and then punched in the face, resulting in facial bruising and swelling. Levy and his father submitted a police report the next day.

Levy said in an interview that he initially thought the tap on his shoulder was a friendly one. When he turned around, he said he was punched three times and he “instantly felt hazy.”

“Hurting people based on their opinions is not OK,” he added.

Police reportedly stated that they believe the attack was a targeted antisemitic hate crime and warned that such behavior “will not be tolerated.” They have asked anyone with any information to come forward.

The Anti-Defamation Commission, an Australian Jewish organization that fights antisemitism, said in a statement that Levy was “visibly Jewish” and that this attack reflects the trend of growing antisemitism in Australia. The chair of the Commission, Dvir Abramovitch, said the injuries sustained by the teen could have been much worse and exhorted the police to treat the crime with the gravity it deserves.

The attack on Levy is the latest in a string of incidents that have alarmed the Jewish community in Australia and increased the fear that Jews are no longer safe in a country that had been traditionally welcoming to Jews. It follows a car ramming into a synagogue in Brisbane last Friday, a diplomatic visit to the country by Israeli President Isaac Herzog, and a shooting at Bondi Beach on Chanukah that left 15 dead and dozens wounded, among thousands of incidents since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

The Brisbane synagogue attacker was arrested and faces charges of willful damage as well as hate crime charges. David Crisafulli, the premier of the state of Queensland of which Brisbane is the capital, said the Jewish community found the affair “very distressful” and emphasized the need for stronger laws surrounding the protection of worship.