A Jewish man was threatened with death and subjected to Nazi salutes while walking to shul in Berlin, according to members of the city’s Jewish community, in an incident that has sparked widespread condemnation.

Video posted to social media shows two young Muslim men confronting the victim, shouting antisemitic insults and repeatedly making the Nazi salute. According to Shlomo Afanasev, a member of Berlin’s Jewish community, the victim is a prominent member of Kahal Adass Jisroel.

“In Berlin, a leading member of my Jewish community was threatened with death on his way to the synagogue,” Afanasev wrote on X. “Two men hurled antisemitic insults at him, and one repeatedly gave the Hitler salute.”

According to Afanasev, German police arrested one of the two suspects.

“Such scenes are deeply shocking,” he wrote. “Antisemitism is not a memory of the past—it is a reality of the present. That Jews, of all places in Germany, must once again fear for their safety on the way to the synagogue is profoundly painful. Our history obligates us not to look away, not to downplay it, and not to remain silent.”

The Israeli Embassy in Germany also condemned the incident, saying it reflects a troubling shift.

“Something has changed in Germany,” the embassy said in a statement. “Young Muslim men threaten a Jew on his way to the synagogue with death. They repeatedly perform the Hitler salute publicly. They show their faces openly, state their names. They no longer have any shame.”

The embassy called on law enforcement to take firm action while urging German society to confront rising antisemitism.

“It is the task of the police to stop them,” the statement said. “But it is a societal task to ensure that such people once again feel shame rather than pride in their actions.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)