A young Jewish man was attacked for wearing a kippah while walking the streets of Berlin. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

A young man wearing a kippah was attacked on the streets of Berlin on Tuesday evening, Germany’s The Local reported on Wednesday.

According to a police report, the attack occurred at approximately 9:30 pm in the Alt-Treptow neighborhood. The victim, 21, told police that three men of Arabic appearance began to verbally harass him with antisemitic epithets when they saw his kippah. They then proceeded to punch and kick him, before fleeing the scene.

The young man was lightly injured and did not require emergency medical treatment. Police are investigating the incident. 

Since the recent emergence of Germany’s migrant crisis following the country’s opening of its borders to Middle Eastern refugees, most of whom are Muslims, concerns about attacks against the Jewish community have risen.

In an October 2015 meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Josef Schuster — president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany — said, “Many Syrians and immigrants of Arab descent have grown up in an environment in which hostility toward Israel and antisemitism are common practice. Jews in Germany are afraid that, if unchecked, this antisemitism rooted in Arab culture and politics could grow rapidly.”

According to a report by the Department for Research and Information on Antisemitism (RIAS) — as cited by Religion News Service — as of 2015, there has been a 34 percent increase in antisemitic incidents in Berlin alone. While the report notes that many of the attacks involve far-Right activists and neo-Nazis, the number of incidents perpetrated by foreign-born Muslims is dramatically increasing.