Argentine chief rabbi assaulted during break-in
ARGENTINA’S CHIEF RABBI was assaulted in his Buenos Aires home on Monday by unknown assailants who broke in and told him they knew he was the country’s Jewish leader.
Gabriel Davidovich was hospitalised after he “suffered serious injuries due to the heavy blows he received”, according to Amia, the Argentine Jewish community group.
His wife is understood to have witnessed her husband being assaulted in what the Delegation of Argentine Jewish Associations said it was an antisemitic attack. Its president, Jorge Knoblovits told Argentinian media that the chief rabbi had suffered nine broken ribs.
Argentinian media reports suggested up to seven people had broken into Chief Rabbi Davidovich’s home ahead of the attack at 2am on Monday morning. They shouted “We know that you are the Amia rabbi” as they stole money and some of their belongings, Amia said.
Its call for a “quick and total” police investigation was backed by Argentina’s president Mauricio Macri.
Gabriel Davidovich has been Argentina’s Chief Rabbi at Amia since 2013.
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin telephoned the chief rabbi on Tuesday, telling him that Israel “will do everything necessary to protect Jews wherever they choose to live and will take any steps to protect us from danger.”
In the UK, Sheila Gewolb from the Board of Deputies said she was “deeply shocked” by the attack.
She said: “It’s not the first time that the Argentinian Jewish community has been targeted. In these difficult times, UK Jews stand in solidarity with the Argentinian Jewish community.”
Last year, a federal court in Buenos Aires confirmed the death of Jewish Argentine special prosecutor Albert Nisman was definitely homicide and not suicide.
Mr Nisman had been investigating claims that there had been an official cover-up following the terror attack on the Amia Jewish centre on July 18, 1994 that killed 85 people.