San Jose police are investigating a possible hate crime after two men said they were injured after being jumped in Santana Row because they were Jewish and speaking Hebrew.
The friends, who do not want to be identified, say they were waiting for a table at a upscale restaurant Sunday afternoon when three young men suddenly attacked them.
“Every punch connected directly to where they wanted, to the head directly. It was on purpose to hit and make maximum damage,” one man said.
“One of the witnesses said that, they heard them saying, ‘don’t mess with Iran’, which we don’t know why,” the other man added. “We don’t have any problem with them. But, I heard at the beginning of the fight, something with, ‘F the Jews’.”
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One of the two was knocked out cold and required stitches. The other was badly cut and bruised. Both went to the hospital.
“This kind of violence not supposed to happen in the middle of the day on a Sunday – with kids and elderly people, and everybody’s walking around.” The man said.
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San Jose Police say they are aware of the incident from Sunday and an investigation is active and ongoing.
Because antisemitic language was allegedly used, their assault unit is investigating as a possible hate crime.
This is not the first time we spoke with one of these men, his business was vandalized last August with graffiti of swastikas and hateful language.
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Tali Klima with the Bay Area Jewish Coalition says the widening conflict between Iran, the U.S. and Israel will only make antisemitism worse unless local leaders increase protections.
“Antisemitism has been on the rise in the U.S., even before October 7th and it just keeps going up and up and up,” Klima said. “And so, it’s time to take this problem seriously and actually take concrete steps to address it.”
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For the men, they’re grateful their injuries aren’t worse.
But they are also calling on change to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else.
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