A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, Oct. 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco

Rome authorities have arrested two men suspected of brutally assaulting a Jewish man in a targeted antisemitic attack, the latest in a rising wave of antisemitic hate crimes across Italy, sparking outrage within the local Jewish community.

Benedetto Ligorio, a researcher at Rome’s Sapienza University specializing in the history of European Jewish communities, was attacked earlier this year after leaving the Beth-El Synagogue in the city’s northeastern Nomentano neighborhood, when two men approached him, hurled antisemitic insults, and physically assaulted him.

According to local police, the assailants also tried to snatch the victim’s mobile phone as he attempted to call 112, Italy’s emergency number, before striking him in the face and fleeing the scene.

Digos, Italy’s specialized police unit responsible for investigating terrorism and politically motivated crimes, is now handling the case alongside Rome police, examining the circumstances of the incident and the suspects’ alleged involvement.

Investigators used surveillance footage to identify the suspects, matching their facial features and distinctive tattoos before tracking them down and making the arrests.

Now, the two suspects, aged 36 and 46 and both residents of Rome, are in custody, with one held in prison and the other placed under house arrest, as both face charges of attempted aggravated robbery with a racial motive.

Like most countries across the Western world, Italy has seen a rise in antisemitic incidents over the last three years, in the wake of the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Earlier this year, the Milan-based CDEC Foundation (Center of Contemporary Jewish Documentation) confirmed that antisemitic incidents in Italy almost reached four digits for the first time last year, spiking to record levels.

Of 1,492 reports submitted through official monitoring channels, the CDEC formally classified a record high 963 cases as antisemitic.

By comparison, there were 877 recorded incidents in 2024, preceded by 453 such outrages in 2023 and just 241 in 2022.

In one of the latest episodes in northern Italy, a group of Israeli tourists on vacation were subjected to an alleged barrage of antisemitic abuse before being expelled from a restaurant in Limone sul Garda, a town on the western shore of Lake Garda.

According to one member of the group, who recounted their experience in a Facebook post, the friends were dining at a local spot, Jacky’s restaurant, when a waiter launched into an antisemitic tirade after they asked for the Wi-Fi password.

“You are animals. You are child murderers,” one of the waiters reportedly told the group.

The restaurant owners not only failed to intervene but also called police on the Israeli group as the confrontation unfolded. However, the Israelis said the officers instead apologized to them, acknowledging what had happened before the group left the restaurant.

In another disturbing incident, a 60-year-old rabbi was brutally attacked in Milan while waiting for a bus in the city’s western neighborhood of Bande Nere by three men who have since been arrested.

According to local media reports, the three men — reportedly of Arab origin — physically attacked the rabbi after recognizing him at a bus stop, kicking and punching him before ripping off his hat, stomping on him, and spitting on him.