A Berlin court has sentenced a 24-year-old German man of Lebanese descent to three years in prison for what it ruled was an anti-Semitic attack on a German-Jewish university student.
The ruling came ahead of a protest in Berlin on Friday, the third this week, against efforts to expel four pro-Palestinian activists from Germany, including two Irish citizens.
In its ruling a Berlin district court said the February 2024 attack by a man identified only as Mustafa A “took an axe to our system of values”.
The attack saw Mustafa A punch Lahav Shapira, now 32, in the face outside a Berlin bar. When Mr Shapira fell to the ground the defendant, an amateur kickboxer, kicked him in the head, leaving him with life-threatening injuries requiring several operations.
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A Berlin district court imposed a sentence eight months longer than that demanded by the public prosecutor.
“We must deter other people from committing such crimes,” said judge Sahin Sezer. “If that wasn’t anti-Semitism, then what was it?”
Berlin public prosecutor Tim Kaufmann described the attack as an “excess of anti-Semitic violence”, adding the defendant “knew what his punches and kicks could do”.
The defendant, born in Berlin to Lebanese parents, admitted to the attacks, asked for forgiveness but denied he was motivated by anti-Semitism.
At the time of the incident both men were students at the city’s Free University. Mustafa A said he took issue with Mr Shapira’s approach to a pro-Palestinian member of a university WhatsApp group, of which both were members but Mr Shapira was administrator.
The defendant was also annoyed at Mr Shapira for tearing down a poster at the university showing changes to Israeli-Palestinian territory over the decades.
The judge criticised the poster as “the worst kind of anti-Semitic refuse”.
After the ruling Mr Shapira said he was “glad that it’s over and the anti-Semitic motive has been recognised”.
Germany’s federal commissioner against anti-Semitism, Felix Klein, welcomed what he called a “good and just verdict”.
Meanwhile on Friday afternoon in Berlin, a pro-Palestinian demonstration heard that “every criticism of Israel is systematically labelled anti-Semitic”.
It was the third demonstration this week in support of the four people facing expulsion from Germany. On Wednesday afternoon about 90 people entered a historic lecture hall at Berlin’s Humboldt University, damaging benches and spraying walls with slogans including “Free Gaza”.
[ Efforts to expel two Irish citizens symptom of a growing exhaustion in GermanyOpens in new window ]
Protesters attached banners to balconies, with one reading “No Deportation of Anyone. Abolish Germany”.
Humboldt University president Julia von Blumenthal called in police after seeing protesters spraying red triangles, a symbol of Hamas which Germany classifies as a terrorist organisation.
A second protest involving Berlin-based Irish pro-Palestinian activists took place simultaneously on Wednesday 2km away outside the Embassy of Ireland.
The demonstration, entitled “Ireland’s Complicit!” demanded the passing of the Occupied Territories Bill in Ireland and a stop to the use of Irish airspace for the transport of arms to Israel.
After negotiations with police, demonstrators passed on a letter of protest to the Irish Embassy, criticising a “lack of support” for the two Irish citizens facing expulsion from Germany.
Police detained one protester and took her details for pro-Palestinian chants in Irish. Members of the Irish group protested against what they call the “arbitrary” language ban, saying this had not been mentioned in written police instructions issued ahead of the registered demonstration.
Berlin police said the organisers were aware ahead of time that English and German were permitted demonstration languages.
“It’s not about banning a particular language but just so we can understand what is being said,” a police spokesman said, “to ensure it doesn’t come to incitement, insults, hate speech or anything else.”
