A few days after an attack on Israeli soccer fans was reported in Odessa, Ukraine the Russian Jewish web site Jewish.ru reported on September 20, 2006 that a group of youths beat up a Jew in front of numerous witnesses in the city’s downtown area. Chaim Veitsman was set upon during the evening of September 18 on a crowded street. A gang off youths, who witnesses say often hang out on that street, approached Mr. Veitsman. One screamed in his face, “I don’t like kikes!” and started to attack him. “The hooligans were not afraid of any witnesses or that anybody would stand up for him [the victim]” the report’s author wrote.After the beating was over, Mr. Veitsman, who was covered in his own blood and was suffering from a busted lip and a concussion, had to call the police himself. The officers who responded reportedly were not very interested in investigating the attack. A witness came forward and named one of the attackers. Mr. Veitsman then went to the police station with the officers and waited 40 minutes before someone there took down his complaint.

Sources within the local Jewish community told Jewish.ru that the city’s streets are becoming increasingly dangerous. People interviewed at the Migdal Jewish Cultural Center reported that over the past two years, five Jews affiliated with their organization have been attacked, and that police have not been able to solve even one of those cases.

FSUM