RSS
Berlin Court Sentences Man to Three Years for Brutal Antisemitic Attack on Jewish Student
Lahav Shapira, a Jewish student at the Free University of Berlin, was physically assaulted last year. A German court sentenced his former fellow student, a 24-year-old Arab man, to three years in prison for dangerous bodily harm, citing an antisemitic motive. Photo: Screenshot.
A German court sentenced a 24-year-old man from Berlin to three years in prison on Thursday for the brutal assault of a Jewish student, ruling that the attack— which left the victim with serious injuries — was fueled by antisemitic hatred.
Formerly a student at the Free University of Berlin (FU), the defendant was found guilty for the attack on Lahav Shapira, the grandson of Amitzur Shapira — one of the 11 Israeli athletes murdered by Palestinian terrorists during the 1972 Munich Olympics.
Last year, Shapira, 32, was attacked outside a bar in the central Mitte district of Germany’s capital. His brother, Shahak Shapira — a popular comedian based in Germany — said the attack happened “unannounced.” Shahak claimed that the attacker recognized Lahav, spoke to him aggressively, and followed him when he left the bar.
Earlier in the trial, Lahav appeared as a witness and gave his testimony on the assault, recounting how the severe injuries he sustained forced him to stay at home for several weeks after the attack.
According to the verdict, the attacker struck Shapira with his fist and kicked him in the face, leaving the Jewish student with a complex facial fracture and a brain hemorrhage.
In the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas pogrom, in which over 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 taken hostage, Shapira emerged as a vocal advocate for Israel on campus.
German prosecutor Tim Kaufmann, who had requested a sentence of two years and four months for the attack, described the assault on Shapira as a clear example of antisemitic violence.
“Lahav Shapira was attacked because he is Jewish and campaigned against antisemitism,” Kaufmann said.
During the trial, the defendant admitted following Shapira as he left the bar and physically assaulting him. However, he argued that the incident was not about politics or antisemitism, but rather was related to Shapira’s behavior in a WhatsApp group and his tearing down of a poster at the university.
“I am sorry to have caused you pain,” the defendant said, apologizing to Shapira before the verdict was announced.
After waiting a year and a half, Shapira said he was relieved the trial had concluded and hoped the outcome would serve as a lesson to others not to repeat such actions.
“I hope this will also be a sign … to do something about antisemitism in the university because we have a lot to deal with,” Shapira told DW News. “It’s a pretty hard time right now.”
“I hope that at least this will change something for some people,” he continued.
A Berlin court has ruled that an attack on a Jewish student in 2024 was an “act of antisemitism”. Lahav Shapira’s attacker was found guilty of grievous bodily harm and sentenced to three years in prison. pic.twitter.com/yUBDM2oAVk
— DW Politics (@dw_politics) April 17, 2025
His brother called the verdict a “huge relief” but emphasized that action and reforms from the university are still needed, saying, “We’re not done yet.”
“My brother doesn’t even have an Israeli passport. He left Israel when he was 9,” Shahak wrote in a post on X. “Like many other Jewish students, he found himself feeling unsafe as his fellow students suddenly called for an Intifada against him.”
After 1.5 years, a verdict was reached today and my brother‘s attacker was sentenced to 3 years in prison. The court declared the antisemitic motive proven beyond doubt. It’s a huge relief for us. But we’re not done yet. pic.twitter.com/Bva98ydIIr
— Shahak Shapira (@ShahakShapira) April 17, 2025
This conviction comes as authorities in Germany continue to grapple with a rising wave of antisemitism and pro-Hamas activism across the country.
On Thursday, German police arrested five students who participated in an anti-Israel protest at Humboldt University in Berlin, where they chanted antisemitic slogans and vandalized school property.
Earlier this month, German authorities issued deportation orders for three EU citizens and one US citizen living in Berlin over their participation in several pro-Hamas demonstrations.
According to the German State Office for Immigration, the four deportees, identified as Hamas sympathizers, “pose a threat to public order.”
Germany has experienced a sharp spike in antisemitism amid the war in Gaza. In just the first six months of 2024 alone, the number of antisemitic incidents in Berlin surpassed the total recorded for the entire previous year, according to Germany’s Federal Association of Departments for Research and Information on Antisemitism (RIAS).
The figures compiled by RIAS were the highest count for a single year since the federally funded body began monitoring antisemitic incidents in 2015, showing the German capital averaged nearly eight anti-Jewish outrages a day from January to June last year.
According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), police registered 5,154 antisemitic incidents in Germany in 2023, a 95 percent increase compared to the previous year.
The post Berlin Court Sentences Man to Three Years for Brutal Antisemitic Attack on Jewish Student first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
RSS
Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
RSS
Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.