A protester wrapped in an Israeli flag at a rally against antisemitism at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. Photo: Reuters/Lisi Niesner

More than two years after the brutal attack on Jewish student Lahav Shapira, a German court has acquitted the perpetrator of antisemitic-motivated charges and handed down a reduced sentence, in what appears to be yet another case of the justice system in Europe dismissing antisemitism as a driving factor in violent crime.

On Monday, the Berlin Regional Court sentenced Shapira’s 25-year-old classmate to two and a half years in prison for aggravated assault, delivering a lighter punishment than the one handed down during the initial ruling last year.

However, the court found no antisemitic motive behind the attack, overturning the previous ruling that had concluded otherwise, a decision that has prompted outrage and renewed criticism over how such cases are interpreted and prosecuted.

The court found there was not enough evidence to establish that the accused had expressed antisemitic views prior to the attack, and that investigators’ discovery of anti-Israel material and a pro-Palestinian map in his apartment could not be definitively tied to him or any of his family members.

Shapira strongly condemned the verdict, describing it as a reversal of perpetrator and victim, and expressed hope that the public prosecutor’s office would appeal so the case could be reconsidered “by competent people.”

“What other motive could there have been?” 33-year-old student Shapira said when leaving the courtroom. “I’m annoyed; it’s sad.”

The attack took place in February 2024, when Shapira was out with his girlfriend and was recognized by a fellow student of Arab descent who confronted him over posters he and other students had placed around the university regarding Israeli hostages taken during the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

As the argument escalated, Shapira was knocked to the ground with punches and kicked in the face, suffering a complex midface fracture and a brain hemorrhage.

During the first trial, the public prosecutor’s office argued that “Shapira was attacked because he is Jewish and stood up against antisemitism.”

Even though the accused admitted to the assault in both trials, he consistently denied that it was motivated by antisemitism.

Shapira has also tried unsuccessfully to force the Free University of Berlin (FU) to offer stronger protection against antisemitic discrimination. However, the Berlin Administrative Court rejected his lawsuit against the university as inadmissible.

This latest case is by no means the first in Europe to raise alarm bells among the Jewish community, as courts have repeatedly overturned or reduced sentences for individuals accused of antisemitic crimes, fueling public outrage over what many see as excessive leniency.

Like most countries across Europe and the broader Western world, Germany has seen a shocking rise in antisemitic incidents over the last two years, in the wake of the Oct. 7 atrocities.

According to newly released figures, the number of antisemitic offenses in the country reached a record high in 2025, totaling 2,267 incidents, including violence, incitement, property damage, and propaganda offenses.

By comparison, officially recorded antisemitic crimes were significantly lower at 1,825 in 2024, 900 in 2023, and fewer than 500 in 2022, prior to the Oct. 7 atrocities.

Officials warn that the real number of antisemitic crimes is likely much higher, as many incidents go unreported.

In one of the latest incidents, unknown perpetrators defaced a home over the weekend in Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg district with a swastika and the slogan “Kill all Jews,” prompting an investigation by the State Security Service.

Last week, an Israeli restaurant in the German city of Munich was attacked when assailants smashed multiple windows and threw pyrotechnic devices inside in what authorities suspected was an antisemitic assault.

An Israeli air defense system intercepts a ballistic missile barrage launched from Iran to central Israel during the missile attack, March 1, 2026. Photo: Eli Basri / SOPA Images via Reuters Connect

A poll released ahead of Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day found that a majority of Israelis – 61 percent – oppose the ceasefire with Iran, despite nearly six weeks of missile fire, mass disruption, and repeated trips to shelters.

Some 73 percent of respondents in the poll conducted by the Institute for National Security Studies said they believe Israel will have to renew military action against Iran within the next year, while 76 percent said negotiations with the Islamic Republic would not accomplish the war’s stated aims of crippling Iran’s ballistic missile array, dismantling its nuclear weapons program, and bringing an end to the regime in Tehran

A separate survey by Agam Labs at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem pointed to even stronger opposition, with only 15 percent backing the ceasefire. Two-thirds said they oppose it. 

Two other polls, by Kan and Channel 13, suggested that only a minority of Israelis believe the US and Israel have won the war. In the Kan survey, roughly one-third said they view the outcome as a victory. In the Channel 13 poll, that figure fell to a quarter, while 40 percent said they do not know.

On Lebanon, more than 61 percent of Israelis said the truce with Iran should not be extended to include the fighting with Hezbollah, a condition Tehran has pushed in its talks with Washington, according to the Agam poll.

That was broadly in line with findings from the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI), which reported that four out of five Jewish Israelis believe Israel should continue its campaign against Hezbollah.

Arab Israelis, by contrast, stood well apart in all of the polling. They overwhelmingly indicated they support the ceasefire with Iran, and only a small minority, less than a fifth according to the IDI poll, back continuing the fighting against Hezbollah.

Although missile alerts have eased across much of Israel since the halt in launches from Iran, communities in the north are still coming under sustained fire, with sirens continuing around the clock. A Hezbollah rocket that was not intercepted struck Nahariya on Monday afternoon, causing heavy damage to a residential building and lightly injuring two people. Days earlier, rocket fire hit the remains of a 1,500-year-old Byzantine church in the northern Israeli city. 

The Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to the United States are due to meet in Washington on Tuesday for discussions on the possibility of direct negotiations between the two countries. Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem called on Lebanon to cancel the meeting, accusing the Lebanese government on Monday of turning itself into “a tool for Israel.”

Israel’s former national security adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat warned that expectations for the talks should be limited, arguing that “security without an agreement is preferable to an agreement without security.” Ben-Shabbat, who now heads the Misgav Institute for National Security, warned that the Lebanese government is not capable of removing the threat posed by Hezbollah and would also be unable to grant Israel the operational freedom it would need to act independently. 

“The outcome of the negotiations may result either [in] an agreement lacking adequate security arrangements, or a crisis in which Israel is portrayed as refusing the demands of the Lebanese government,” he cautioned, adding that Israel should avoid making any security concessions before or during the talks.

The Israeli military said it had killed 250 Hezbollah operatives in a major operation in southern Lebanon in recent days, including more than 100 in the Bint Jbeil area alone, most of them in close-quarters combat. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the battle for the southern Lebanese city, long considered a Hezbollah stronghold, was nearing its final stages. It added that some of the terrorists may have been preparing for an incursion into Israeli territory.

The IDF says the fighting has again exposed what it describes as Hezbollah’s entrenched use of civilian sites for military activity. According to the military, weapons are stored beneath homes and launchers are brought out into courtyards to fire toward Israel and then moved back inside. Israeli forces say they are working to identify those sites, destroy the weapons, and kill the operatives using them amid continuing clashes on the ground.

Bint Jbeil carries particular symbolic weight in the conflict. After Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon in May 2000, then-Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah delivered a triumphal address at the city’s soccer stadium, using it as a stage to cast Israel as fragile and beatable.

“Israel has nuclear weapons and the most powerful air force in the region, but in truth, it is weaker than a spider web,” Nasrallah said at the time.

Brigadier General Guy Levy, commander of Division 98, addressed troops from the ruins of that same stadium, which was hit in the latest round of fighting: “In Bint Jbeil in 2000, someone made a speech here and bragged about spider webs. Today, that man does not exist, the stadium doesn’t either, and his words are worth nothing. Now our forces control the area, destroying terror infrastructure and dozens of terrorists.”

Writing on X, IDF Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said that “glory is not built with speeches, but with the impact of soldiers’ footsteps. Controlling the Bint Jbeil stadium is not merely a military achievement, but a dismantling of its arrogant symbolism.”

A cohort of Matan Institute participants following a group study session on strategies for engaging a wide range of learners on Jan. 12, 2026. Photo: Courtesy of Matan

The Matan nonprofit for disability awareness is inviting Jewish institutions across the US to participate in a new initiative to enhance accessibility for the disabled, citing lingering areas where improvement is needed to ensure that the door to community, faith, and learning is open to all comers.

The reform effort, titled the “Matan Alliance for Disability Inclusion,” comes amid a new report by its researchers containing copious evidence of what it describes as “major accessibility gaps across Jewish life” that is dividing some segments of the community to a degree that is harmful but preventable. Some troubling data points featured in the report include survey results which found that 20 percent of Jews report having “been turned away from activities” because of inaccessibility and only 15 percent of disabled Jews said they “can name a disabled leader in their faith institutions.”

Matan says that Jewish institutions need a designated office for disability oversight, noting that over 80 percent do not have one and 70 percent lack “formal policies” for inculcating disability awareness and accessibility as an inveterate cultural force. Having received an implicit signal of being unwelcome, many families and individuals “leave Jewish institutions because their needs cannot be met,” says Matan, which is based in New York City.

The group stresses that it is not drawing attention to this issue to condemn Jewish institutions but to partner with them for work which draws on Jewish values. Remedying the issue now would extend into the private sphere progress on disability accessibility that began almost 36 years ago, when US President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act in July 1990 in response to his own personal convictions and a wave of popular and bipartisan support for addressing a blind spot in anti-discrimination law.

“Historically, Jewish institutions are not bound by law in the same way that secular organizations are, and the result is that not only Jewish institutions but many faith-based organizations are behind when it comes to disability inclusion,” Meredith Polsky, co-founder and executive of Matan, director told The Algemeiner during an exclusive interview. “Matan focuses specifically on the Jewish community and really helping the Jewish community understand this, not really as a legal mandate, but as a moral imperative.”

Matan event for Lieberman Fellowship for Jewish Organizations Serving Young Adults at The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington and Bender JCC of Greater Washington in Rockville, MD in November 2024. Photo: Avi Gerver

To that end, the Alliance for Disability Inclusion invites organizations to enroll as “affiliates” and participate in a tiered program which sees them progress from being a “Matan Ally” to a “Matan Leader.” At “Level 1,” institution officials attend Matan’s “virtual onboard training” and receive an evaluation of existing practices, the result of which is help with enacting necessary policies. Matan provides coaches, learning modules, and other methods of development throughout the process. The final level sees the emergence of fully certified “Matan Leaders,” who Matan says will “serve as “field-wide models of inclusive excellence and accountability.”

More information about the program will be shared on April 19, when Matan holds the “Pathways to Inclusion” event in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. Rebecca Alexander, author and disability rights advocate, will headline as the keynote speaker.

With assaults on Jewish life coming from across the ideological spectrum, demolishing barriers to inclusion to promote universal membership in Jewish institutions is paramount, Polsky said.

“You know, in the Jewish community we have a lot of goodwill about this, but we’re not doing as much as we could concretely, so we’re hoping that this is a way to move the needle to an extent that hasn’t been achieved before,” Polsky continued. “Progress feels slow, and one of our goals is to look at the work that we have been doing over time, seeing what the needs are, and figuring out how we can help catalyze these efforts a bit more.

She added, “For so long disability has been overlooked. People fear saying or doing the wrong time or the effort required seems so expansive. It’s hard to know where to start and organizations don’t necessarily start anywhere.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.