Jarris Jay Silagi beats elderly Jewish man Raphael Nissel en route to Beverly Hills synagogue with wife in alleged hate crime after screaming, ‘Jew give me your earrings!’
A Jewish couple en route to a synagogue in Los Angeles over the weekend were attacked by a man who allegedly yelled at them, ‘Give me your earrings, Jew’, leaving the husband bloodied and battered.
Raphael ‘Raphy’ Nissel, 75, and wife Rebecca Nissel, 70, told NBC LA that the Saturday attack badly rattling them. Rather than be discouraged, the couple vowed that they were more determined than ever to wear their faith proudly.
The episode comes amid an uptick in antisemitic incidents across the US have amid Israel’s war on Hamas following the militant group’s Oct. 7 attack.
‘I was hit because I was a Jew!’
‘I was really enraged, not because of the [injury] but because I was hit as a Jew,’ Raphy told the outlet.
The alleged assault took place in Beverly Hills, Calif., Saturday morning when the man, identified by police as Jarris Jay Silagi, 44, approached the pair and demanded Rebecca’s earrings.
Silagi at the time of the attack is alleged to have removed his belt and repeatedly striking Raphy.
‘At first, it was a shock. There was a huge hard knock on my forehead here,’ Raphy said.
‘And all of a sudden I saw the guy hitting my husband with a belt and screaming, ‘Give me your earrings, Jew,” Rebecca told the outlet.
Raphal Nissel said he became ‘enraged’ at the thought that they might be targeted for being Jewish. ‘I was really, really upset and I decided to intimidate him and I wanted to tackle him somehow,’ he told CNN, but the man turned and started to run.
Undeterred victim insisted on making his way to planned Torah reading
Bloodied and bruised, Raphy chased Silagi down the street as the would-be robber’s pants fell down, Rabbi Pini Dunner of Beverly Hills Synagogue told NBC.
Nissel said he was treated at the scene and had his forehead wound stapled shut.
Raphy sustained a laceration to the head and had his forehead wound stapled shut at the scene. Dunner said after the attack, an undeterred Raphy ‘went home, changed shirt, and came back to synagogue’ for a planned Torah reading, noting he’s a regular at the place of worship.
Silagi was arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon, attempted robbery and elder abuse and committing a hate crime according to Beverly Hills police. The hate crime ‘enhancement’ could result in a lengthier prison sentence if Silagi is convicted.
Prior criminal history
‘Our officers quickly apprehended the suspect and he is in custody,’ said Beverly Hills Police Chief Mark Stainbrook.
‘This despicable act of hate against a member of our community will not be tolerated.’
Silagi according to case file history was convicted of second-degree robbery in 2012 stemming from an incident in which he tried to steal a patron’s phone at a Beverly Hills restaurant, for which he received a five-year prison sentence.
Police said he’s being held at the Los Angeles County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail and is scheduled to appear in court Dec. 12.
The attack comes as advocacy groups report a spike in incidents targeting Jews, Arabs and Muslims in the United States as war rages on between Israel and Hamas in the Middle East. In the two months following Hamas’s October 7 raid of Israel, the Anti-Defamation League said it recorded a 330% increase in reports of antisemitic incidents compared to the same period last year.
