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Yeshiva students threatened by knife-wielding Palestine activist in Switzerland
The man allegedly asked the group ‘are you Jews?’ and spat at them before passersby intervened
July 22, 2025 13:55
The man allegedly asked the group ‘are you Jews?’ and spat at them before passersby intervened
July 22, 2025 13:55A group of yeshiva students walking in the street in Lucerne, Switzerland, on Saturday night were allegedly attacked by a man who spat on them and threatened them with a knife.
According to the group, they approached the local train station at around 8.30pm, at which point the man approached and asked: “Are you Jews?”
Before the group could answer, he allegedly spat at them, prompting them to flee the scene.
The students reportedly rushed toward the station plaza, but the man, described by witnesses as Arab, pursued them. He is then alleged to have pulled out a knife and shouted pro-Palestinian slogans.
Sensing the escalating danger, passersby reportedly intervened and the man fled. No one was injured.
Police were called to the scene but have been unable to locate the alleged attacker.
“It was terrifying,” one student posted on social media. "We tried to walk away, but he wouldn’t stop. Those people saved us.”
Due to Shabbat restrictions, the students, among them Israelis, could not file a formal complaint until the next day and, with Swiss police stations closed on Sundays except for emergencies, they were told to return on Monday.
The alleged attack comes amid a documented rise in antisemitic instances in Switzerland.
According to the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities (SIG), such incidents surged 43 per cent in 2024, with 221 cases in German, Italian and Romansh-speaking regions – up from 155 in 2023. Verbal abuse and antisemitic comments accounted for 65.5 per cent of the incidents.
The study also found that, 32 per cent of Swiss Jews avoid wearing visible Jewish symbols, up from 19.5 per cent in 2020, with 28 per cent also considering emigration due to safety fears.
SIG noted that physical attacks, though rare, are increasing, with the Gaza War fuelling tensions.
Earlier this month, the Geneva-based Intercommunity Coordination Against Anti-Semitism and Defamation (CICAD), expressed concern at the growing number of serious antisemitic acts and remarks that occurred in French-speaking Switzerland so far in 2025.
"These events, diverse in nature but convergent in their seriousness, bear witness to a worrying liberation of antisemitic speech in the public, cultural, educational and digital spheres," said Johanne Gurfinkiel, secretary-general of CICAD.
"These incidents show that antisemitism is no longer confined to the marginal or virtual sphere,” he warned.
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