European Jewish Association Director General Rabbi Menachem Margolin urged German Education Minister, Johanna Wanka, to enhance educational tolerance programs in German schools following the attack on a rabbi in Germany this week.
39-year-old Rabbi Menachem Mendel Gurewitz was attacked by a group of young men in a shopping center in the city of Offenbach, near Frankfurt. The men reportedly pushed him as they yelled “shitty Jew”.
Stressing the recent increase of anti-Semitic assaults in the country, Rabbi Margolin said: "We are very concerned about the safety of German Jews and we wish to prevent expansion of anti-Semitism in the country and throughout Europe.’’
"Educational programs should not focus only on specific anti – Semitic incidents as horrific as they are, but rather, on the increasing legitimacy hate groups are receiving from the German public,” he added.
A local police spokesman said a criminal complaint had been filed for an anti-Semitic hate crime, bodily injury and harassment.
State security officials are also investigating the incident.
The men reportedly pursued the rabbi as he attempted to flee the scene, but he was eventually rescued by his friend driving an automobile.