An elderly couple relived the moment they were robbed and brutally attacked because they were Jewish on their way to the Beverly Hills Synagogue on Saturday.
Raphael Nissel, 75, was hit with a belt buckle and suffered cuts to his head after Jarris Jay Silagi, 44 of Los Angeles, hit him around 9 a.m. on Dec. 9 while he was walking with his wife, Rivka.
A tearful Rivka recalled how the suspect came from behind near the intersection of N. Rexford Drive and N. Santa Monica Boulevard to attack her husband as she shouted at him to “be careful!”
“Suddenly I saw the guy hitting my husband with the belt and screaming, 'Give me your earrings, Jude,'” she told NBC.
“First there was the shock. “There was a huge, hard blow to my forehead… I decided we couldn't just leave it like that,” Raphael explained as he pursued the suspect.
Silagi tried to escape when his pants began to fall down. As he ran, a Beverly Hills police officer noticed the commotion, intervened and arrested the attacker.
Charges against the suspect include assault with a deadly weapon, attempted robbery, hate crimes and elder abuse.
“This despicable act of hate against a member of our community will not be tolerated,” BHPD Chief Mark Stainbrook said in a statement.
Raphael was treated at the scene by Beverly Hills Police Department paramedics said.
The couple told how Raphael was attacked on Saturday and chased his attacker
Raphael suffered lacerations to his head after being hit with a belt buckle on December 9th
Alan Nissel said his parents were attacked while walking to synagogue on Saturday
The incident occurred just after 9 a.m. Saturday when officers responded to the area of N. Rexford Drive and N. Santa Monica Boulevard after receiving a report of an assault with a deadly weapon.
“The suspect fled the scene before police arrived,” said a statement shared on X.
“Following a search by Beverly Hills Police Department personnel, an individual matching the suspect’s description was observed fleeing by a BHPD senior forensic specialist.
“Police officers used the information provided to quickly locate, arrest and identify the suspect.”
Chief Stainbrook added: “Our officers quickly apprehended the suspect and he is in custody.”
According to police, the victim was treated at the scene by firefighters and did not require any further medical attention.
Raphael was dazed and covered in blood from the attack.
Alan Nissel shared a picture of a bloody shirt on X on December 10 and wrote: “Yesterday my father (75) and mother (70) were attacked on the way to school.”
“After my father was hit in the head from behind with a belt and called a Jew, he started hunting the perpetrator again, with the help of the nearby Beverly Hills police.”
Raphael attends synagogue regularly and was expected to participate Saturday as a “lay reader” of Scripture, said Rabbi Pini Dunner of the Beverly Hills Synagogue.
He added that he had been in contact with the victims since Saturday and explained that the couple was recognizable as Jewish because they were dressed in black and white and the victim was wearing a yarmulke.
“He went home after the attack, changed his shirt and came to synagogue,” Dunner said.
The victim's wife was uninjured, police said.
Silagi is being held on $100,000 bail and is scheduled to appear in Los Angeles Airport Court on Tuesday.
“Suddenly I saw the guy hitting my husband with the belt and screaming, 'Give me your earrings, Jude,'” Rivka told NBC.
Police said an elderly victim was attacked and insulted with anti-Semitic slurs
The conflict between Israel and Hamas has provoked strong international reactions, ranging from peaceful protests to violent acts of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
The Anti-Defamation League reported a nearly 400 percent increase in anti-Semitic incidents in the United States between October 7 and October 23.
Of the 312 incidents, “approximately 190” were related to the conflict.
A recent report from the advocacy group found that 73 percent of college students surveyed had experienced or witnessed some form of anti-Semitism since the start of the 2023-2024 school year alone. On October 7, Hamas attacked Israel.
Before this school year, 70 percent of Jewish college students had experienced at least some form of anti-Semitism throughout their college years, the ADL reported.
Since October 7, the number of students who felt “very” or “extremely” comfortable with others knowing they were Jewish has fallen from 63.7 percent to just 38.6 percent.
The ADL has also noted an increase in reports of anti-Muslim hatred across the country as the war continues.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said it also received 774 complaints from October 7 to October 24 about incidents motivated by Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian and Arab bias.
The group said this was the highest level since 2015.
Around 1,200 Jews were killed in Israel, especially when Hamas launched its bloody attack in the east on October 7.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded with a devastating bombardment of Gaza, forcing an estimated 1.4 million people – out of Gaza's 2.3 million locals – from their homes and killing about 18,000