An enraged anti-Semitic attacker filmed himself whipping two Jewish American tourists with a belt while screaming ‘Free Palestine‘ in Florence, Italy.
In footage posted to social media, the man approaches the two visibly Jewish men walking down a street in the evening and demands that they stop and tell him where they are from.
After one answers that he is from New York, the man proceeds to repeatedly scream ‘free Palestine, f***er’ in the tourists’ faces, before verbally abusing them with a string of other obscenities and whipping his belt down on the pavement.
‘Motherf***er,’ the man shouts at them. ‘Free Palestine s***’, he bellows aggressively.
When the tourists try and answer back, the man shouts ‘shut up!’ and ‘no speaking you f*****!’ before whipping his belt down on the pavement again, making the Jewish men flinch with visible fear.
‘Free Palestine b****!’ the man shouts, before chanting again: ‘Free Palestine f*****’, ‘motherf***er, motherf***er!’
He holds the belt in his hands and slings it towards the men, as if to threaten them, shouting at them to ‘go!’.
He whips it again, though it is unclear where the strike lands. The next shot shows the tourists running away down the street, appearing to try and escape an attack.
An enraged anti-Semitic attacker filmed himself whipping two Jewish American tourists with a belt while screaming ‘Free Palestine ‘ in Florence, Italy
When the tourists try and answer back, the man shouts ‘shut up!’ and ‘no speaking you f*****!’ before whipping his belt down on the pavement again, making the Jewish men flinch with visible fear
The Jewish tourists running away down the street, appearing to try and escape an attack
It is unclear what happened next and whether the man continued to harass the tourists.
Members of the public commented on the viral video to condemn the attack.
‘An anti-Semitic attack on Jews who were simply walking down the street in Florence without saying or doing anything. They’re from New York and only look Jewish. How can harassing people who are just walking around the city liberate Palestine? What dothey have to do with it?’ one person wrote.
Another added: ‘Shame on you!’
The Italian Special Operations Division (DIGOS) is currently trying to track down the publisher of the video.
It appeared on Monday, September 28, on the popular ‘Welcome to Florence’ Instagram page with almost 300,000 followers.
Police are investigating and searching for CCTV footage that captured the incident.
Italian publication Corriere Fiorentino cited another incident in Florence that allegedly occurred outside the Michelangiolo high school on September 25.
Davide Biosa, a literature teacher, filed a complaint with the police accusing one of his former students of calling him a ‘s***’ Zionist and saying he ‘admired Hamas’.
‘I tried to explain that I’m not indifferent to the Palestinian cause, but that one can’t express admiration for terrorist organisations,’ he explained to the publication.
The student denied the incident, the newspaper claimed, saying the professor’s account is ‘false’.
The Italy-Israel Association of Florence released a statement expressing ‘deep indignation and concern over the very serious incidents that have occurred’.
‘These events cannot be minimised or dismissed as isolated incidents: anti-Semitism has once again become openly manifest in our streets , and this should concern all of civil society,’ said Emanuele Cocollini, president of the Italy-Israel Association of Florence
‘The institutions – starting with the city, the region, and the police – have a duty to react firmly, ensuring safety, protection, and a clear and unequivocal political and cultural response: those who sow hatred must be isolated and stopped, without ambiguity.’
Footage shows the attacker lurching the belt in front of the tourists aggressively
The men can be seen trying to dodge the belt to avoid being struck
Some nine vehicles belonging to a group of strictly Orthodox Jews, some of whom were from Stamford Hill in London , were reportedly vandalised with the spray paint
This is not the first time Jewish tourists have encountered hostility when travelling abroad this summer amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
In July, several cars belonging to strictly Orthodox Jewish tourists, some of whom were from Stamford Hill in London, were daubed with ‘Free Palestine‘ graffiti in a French Alpine town.
The group was on holiday in the picturesque Haute-Savoie region when their vehicles were defaced overnight.
In July, dozens of French-Jewish students aged between 10 and 15 and several adults were kicked off Vueling flight V8166 as it waited on the tarmac at Valencia for ‘unruly behaviour’.
The expulsion of the 44 students amid reports they were endangering the safety of the flight sparked a row, with the carrier coming under fire for alleged anti-Semitism.
The holiday camp the children were flying with accused Vueling of ‘brutality’ as footage emerged showing their adult group leader being detained with handcuffs by Spanish police.
In Italy that same month, a Jewish man claimed he and his six-year-old son were attacked at a motorway service area by an enraged pro-Palestinian crowd.
They were both wearing traditional Jewish kippahs and attracted the attention of people at the services near Lainate on the main Milan-Lagi motorway.
In the clip which was later uploaded to social media, a group of people can be heard shouting in Italian ‘Palestina Libera ‘(Free Palestine)’ and ‘Go back home’.
Others also shout in Italian ‘Assassini’ (murderers) while another adds: ‘This isn’t Gaza, here is Italy’ and another can be heard shouting: ‘You will go to hell sooner or later’.
In interviews with Italian media he claimed to have been pushed to the floor and then kicked with the crowd demanding he delete the video.
The video was shared on several anti-Semitic campaign groups, with one commentator writing: ‘This is how it started in the Netherlands when I was a boy in 1941. I’m seeing it happen all over again.’
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .