In Berlin, Antisemitic Attack on Grandson of 1972 Munich Massacre Victim

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In 1972, Muslim Arab terrorists belonging to Black September took hostage, and later murdered, eleven Israeli athletes and coaches who had come to compete in the Munich Olympics. More than fifty years later, in another German city, Berlin, the grandson of one of those Israelis murdered in Munich was violently attacked by a Muslim Arab who was his college classmate, for no other reason than that he, Lahav Shapira, was perceived by his attacker to be a Jew. The Muslim’s assault took place a year ago; now he has received his sentence, and will be able to conduct prison Da’wa for a few more years. More on the crime of Mustafa S. and the punishment just handed down can be found here: “Man sentenced to 3 years in prison over antisemitic attack on Munich massacre victim’s grandson,” by Grace Gilson, JTA, April 19, 2025:

 A 24-year-old man who was convicted of attacking the grandson of a Munich massacre victim over a year ago in Berlin was sentenced to three years in prison on Thursday.

The sentence, which was higher than what prosecutors sought, came after the judge determined that the assault was motivated by antisemitism, according to the German news agency DPA.

It is astonishing that the prosecutors wanted a sentence of less than three years for such a violent assault and battery, that caused the victim to suffer a brain hemorrhage and significant eye damage. Why were they prepared to be so lenient in the case? Could it be that the German prosecutors themselves don’t put a high value on Jewish suffering? What sentence do you think an assailant, causing the same injuries to the victim as in this case, would receive in an American court?

The case drew close attention in Israel because the victim, Lahav Shapira, 30, is the grandson of Amitzur Shapira, an Israeli athletics coach who was murdered by Palestinian terrorists in the Munich Olympics terror attack in 1972. Shapira moved to Germany from Israel with his mother and brother Shahak Shapira, a prominent comedian and writer, as a child.

“He was full of hate,” Shapira’s mother, Tzipi Lev, told Ynet about her son’s attacker, whom German police identified as Mustafa S. “We won’t be silent about this. We already have a bloody history here, but I’m not afraid. I raised my sons to be proud of their Judaism and their Israeli identity. If we start to fear, we lose our right to exist.”

The attack occurred in February 2024, amid heightened tensions at the Free University of Berlin, where both men were students, over the Israel-Hamas war. Police reports at the time said that the younger man assaulted Shapira after the pair argued, while Shapira said there had been no precipitating incident. He suffered severe facial fractures, a brain hemorrhage and significant eye damage in the assault….

This was no exchange of punches. Lahav Shapira was without warning assaulted by Mustafa S. Shapira says the attack came out of the blue; he says there was no “precipitating incident.” I believe him, and I disbelieve Mustafa S.’ claim that there had been a prior argument that precipitated what the Arab calls “a fight,” and what the victim calls an “unprovoked attack.”

Key evidence determining the antisemitic nature of the attack was found in a video on Mustafa’s phone where a friend is heard saying, “Mosti beat the s**t out of that Jewish son of a b**ch,” according to Ynet’s report.

“Beat the s**t out of that Jewish son of a b**ch” sounds like antisemitism to me.

Mustafa apologized to Shapira shortly before the verdict, saying, “I am sorry to have caused you pain,” according to DPA.

I don’t believe a word of Mustafa S.’s “apology.” It was made before the verdict was announced, and in the hope of his receiving a lighter sentence. His calculation appears to have worked, for in the end he received only a three-year sentence for aggravated assault and battery. Had the prosecutors had their way, the sentence would have been even shorter.

Lahav Shapira was not the first or the second, but the third member of his family to be the subject of Muslim violence in Germany. In addition to his grandfather, Amitzur Shapira, the Olympics coach murdered in Munich, Lahav’s older brother Shahak was set upon ten years ago by a group of Arabs who beat him up. It happened this way:

Shahak Shapira suffered an assault in 2015 when several Arab men beat him on a Berlin train after he objected to them singing anti-Israel and antisemitic chants. He has championed for justice for his younger brother on social media, and called on the Free University in Berlin to be held to account….

A brave man, this Shahak Shapira, who went up to a group of Arabs in his train car who were singing antisemitic and anti-Israel chants, and told them to cut it out, at which point they all ganged up on him, many against one, and beat him up; no information is given as to how serious were his wounds. It’s his bravery, and their cowardice, that both stand out.

The Shapira family believes that the Free University of Berlin has been too indulgent with anti-Israel and antisemitic groups, including those that helped inspire Mustafa S. to attack Lahav Shapira with such unwonted brutality. The university, the family believes, has allowed antisemitic groups to flourish, and has not provided enough security to Jewish and Israeli students on and near the campus. If the Shapiras’ civil suit prevails against the university, or against those groups, or against both,, they may be able to receive a very large sum, and in so doing, force the university to change its half-hearted attempts to curb displays of antisemitism on campus. A million euros here, three million euros there, and eventually the administrators at the Free University will be forced, for financial reasons — appeals to morality clearly won’t work, just as they haven’t worked with American universities — to change their ways and crack down hard on the Muslim brownshirts marching about their campus, ready to assault any Jews they may come across. That would be a good outcome.