Italy Expels Two Men After Alleged Antisemitic Assault on Milan Rabbi

Italian authorities have expelled two men accused of taking part in an alleged antisemitic assault on a rabbi in Milan last month.

Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi announced that authorities had repatriated the two foreign nationals following the September 16 attack on Rabbi Tzemach Mizrachi. The two men were sent to Morocco and Tunisia.

Mizrachi, a rabbi at the Chabad synagogue on Via Soderini, was waiting for a bus in Milan’s Bande Nere neighborhood when three young men approached him.

According to Mizrachi, the group surrounded and mocked him before taking the traditional black hat from his head. One of the men later returned and kicked him as he attempted to record the incident on his phone.

Police detained the three suspects shortly afterward. Investigators examined whether religious hatred motivated the attack.

A judge later determined that religious discrimination played a role in the alleged assault, according to Italian media. The three suspects, all young men of North African origin, had denied acting out of antisemitism and described their behavior as a joke.

Authorities allowed two of the suspects to remain free while investigating them before ultimately repatriating them. The third suspect, a 20-year-old of Tunisian background, remains in Italy.

Police arrested the third man on suspicion of offenses involving incitement based on racial, ethnic and religious discrimination. A judge later released him under an order requiring him to report regularly to police. His trial is expected to begin in November.

Piantedosi said Italy would not tolerate antisemitic violence.

“There is no room in our country for hatred and violence, and no act of antisemitism will ever be tolerated.”

Milan Jewish Community President Walker Meghnagi welcomed the expulsions and called for authorities to maintain the same approach toward future acts of violence.

Mizrachi said after the attack that he had experienced increasing verbal abuse in Milan over the past two years but had never previously been physically attacked. He said he would continue wearing identifiable Jewish clothing in public despite the incident.