NEW YORK (VINnews) — A member of Berlin’s Chabad community was assaulted and spat on along with his two young children while walking home from synagogue, police said.

Aviezer Kantor, 48, who serves as a supervisor at Berlin’s Chabad House, was attacked Saturday afternoon in the city’s Charlottenburg district. According to police, a 31-year-old man confronted Kantor on Olivaer Platz, blocking his path and shouting threats and insults.

The confrontation escalated when the suspect allegedly spat in the face of the rabbi and his two children. An Israeli bystander who witnessed the incident intervened and restrained the suspect until police arrived.

The suspect was arrested and taken into custody. Berlin’s State Criminal Investigation Office has opened an investigation into the attack, which authorities are treating as a possible antisemitic incident.

The assault comes amid growing concerns over antisemitism in Germany. A government-backed report released this week found that nearly 8,700 antisemitic incidents were recorded nationwide in 2025, many linked to tensions surrounding the war in Gaza. The report documented a rise in threats, harassment and violence targeting Jews across the country.

Among the incidents cited was the beating and robbery of an Orthodox rabbi in front of his children in the state of Hesse. The report also detailed online threats, including messages invoking Holocaust imagery, and several cases of extreme violence.

Jewish organizations have repeatedly warned that visibly Jewish individuals, particularly those wearing religious attire, have increasingly become targets of harassment and attacks in Germany’s major cities.