An elderly Rav was assaulted by an antisemitic thug in Rome’s historic Jewish Quarter on Wednesday evening.

The Rav said that the assailant, who spoke fluent Italian, yelled at him about Islam and religion, spat at him, cursed him and then began shoving him after he asked him to move away.

The incident ended when a waiter from a nearby restaurant intervened and warned the attacker that the police would be called, prompting him to leave the area.

The Rav chose not to file a formal complaint with police following the incident.

The assault comes amid a series of antisemitic attacks in Rome, including two attacks on Shabbos against a 22-year-old Jewish tourist from France.

The tourist, who wears a kippah, said that the first incident occurred on Friday, August 7, at about 8 p.m. in Piazza Cairoli in central Rome. He said the suspect sprayed him in the face with pepper spray and then shouted, “Free Palestine.”

The next day, the tourist was attacked again near the site of the first attack. He was surrounded by four assailants who kicked him and yelled “Free Palestine.”

The tourist identified one of the four assailants as the same man who had attacked him the previous day. Italian police later arrested the man, an Algerian citizen with a criminal record, and are searching for the other suspects.

Victor Fadlun, president of Rome’s Jewish community, said, “Sadly, the hunting season for Jews has reached the streets of Rome as well.”

Israel’s Ambassador to Italy, Yonatan Peled, said that when a Jewish person can no longer walk the streets of a city without fear of being attacked, it is no longer merely a matter of the safety of minorities but of “everyone’s freedom.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)