A 15-year-old Tunisian migrant who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and called for “a global fight against the Jews” has been arrested for a knife attack against an Orthodox Jew in the Swiss city of Zurich.
The attack occurred shortly after 9:30 p.m. on Saturday following an altercation between the teenager and his 50-year-old victim.
The man was reportedly stabbed eight times as the perpetrator shouted “Death to the Jews” and “Death to Israel.”
Emergency responders were dispatched to the scene and rushed the victim to the hospital.
Jonathan Kreutner, secretary general of the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities (FSCI), told Keystone-ATS on Monday that the victim’s life is no longer in immediate danger but he requires intensive medical care.
The attacker, a 15-year-old Tunisian migrant who was granted Swiss citizenship back in 2015, was arrested shortly after the attack and remains in custody.
An initial police investigation unveiled a video recorded by the teenager prior to the attack in which he pledged his allegiance to the Islamic death cult IS and vowed to conduct jihad against the Jewish population. The existence of the video was confirmed on Monday by Mario Fehr, Zurich’s state councilor in charge of the police who further denounced the “cowardly attack” and “terrorist act” to the press.
Authorities are currently investigating whether the teenager acted alone or is part of a wider terror cell.
Jewish organizations in Switzerland warned the attack was the latest in a concerning rise in anti-Semitic attacks taking place throughout the country and urged the Swiss government to crack down on racially motivated incidents.
“According to testimonies collected from the media, there is little doubt that the attack had an anti-Semitic motive,” the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities wrote on Sunday. It noted the rise in anti-Semitism following the Hamas terrorist attack against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and warned that this incident represents a “frightening new level of escalation.”
