A Palestinian refugee from the Gaza Strip attacked a Jewish man on a train in Switzerland back in February. The incident was only recently revealed to the public by the Swiss authorities in the last few days.

The Palestinian was not charged with a hate crime but was arrested and sentenced to four months imprisonment for assault. The incident took place inside a train near the city of  Lausanne.

The Palestinian man, whose name is Muhammad, threw a shirt at the Jewish man, accosted him, stole his water bottle, his kippah and the book that he was reading and threw them all into the trash. He then stole the Jewish man’s watch, broke his glasses, and continued to punch the Jewish man all over his body.

According to reports in German and Swiss newspapers, Muhammed screamed at the Jewish man, identofied only as Israel: “I want to slit your throat”.

Yonatan Gurfinkle, the Secretary-General of CICAD, an organization that monitors anti-Semitism in Switzerland attacked the decision to not classify the incident as a hate crime in the charges brought against Muhammed. “The details of this case clearly point to the fact that Muhammed attacked the Jewish man because he was wearing a kippah and was identifiable as a Jew. His arrest and subsequent  charges do not show that this was a hate crime, which is a very serious offense.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)