Israeli man brutally beaten up by group of men in Golders Green after speaking Hebrew
Police are searching for attackers who beat an Israeli man in central Golders Green, London, last night after allegedly overhearing him speaking Hebrew.
Shalev Ben Yakar, 22, stepped outside his flat on Golders Green Road near the King Solomon Hotel at about 2:00 AM on Sunday to take a phone call from friends in South America without disturbing his flatmates.
He says a group of five or six men in tracksuits attacked him after hearing him speak Hebrew, leaving him close to unconscious.
The men chased him, shouted abuse in Arabic, dragged him across the road after catching him, tore his clothes, stole one of his shoes, and asked: “Are you Jewish?”
He suffered bleeding cuts to his forehead, nose, and cheeks, bruising to his back and face, and several tears to his trousers.
“I had that feeling, like I thought I was going to die,” Ben Yakar said.
“[They caught me] completely off guard. I was not ready. I saw [them] coming [towards] me, and I had a suspicious feeling [about them], but in one second suddenly one of them was running [towards] me and jumped me.”
Ben Yakar said that after being dragged across the road, three or four of the men formed a circle around him and repeatedly kicked him while he tried to defend himself with his eyes closed.
“They yelled at me in Arabic, they kept saying the word ‘whore’ in Arabic at me,” he said. Though he lost track of time, he said it felt like “about five minutes” before they took one of his shoes and ran off, leaving him barely conscious.
A neighbour who heard the commotion called police, who arrived after the attackers had fled.
This morning, Ben Yakar said he is “feeling shocked… obviously traumatised” by the incident. “I just was waiting for it to be over. Eventually, they ran away like mice, you know. I just can’t believe it happened.”
The Metropolitan Police and the Community Security Trust (CST) are trying to identify those responsible.
According to the CST, police are treating the incident as an antisemitic hate crime.
The CST said: “This was a violent and appalling attack in the heart of Golders Green. The incident is being treated by the Metropolitan Police as an antisemitic hate crime, and we thank them for their swift response. CST is providing support to the victim and his family.”
