San Jose police are investigating a suspected antisemitic hate crime after two Israeli Americans were brutally assaulted Sunday afternoon outside a restaurant while speaking Hebrew.
The attack took place at approximately 3:38 pm outside Augustine, an upscale restaurant located in the busy Santana Row district of San Jose. The victims, identified as Lior Zeevi, 47, and Daniel Levy, 48, were waiting for a table when three young men suddenly approached and began attacking them.
According to the victims, the assault began moments after the two longtime friends spoke Hebrew to each other while standing outside the restaurant. Levy noticed one of the men approaching with what he described as a strange and hostile look and asked him, “Do we know each other?”
Seconds later the situation exploded into violence.
“When I turned around to see who he was talking to it was already too late,” Zeevi said. “They started punching and it was brutal.”
Video from the scene, which quickly spread across social media, shows the two men being punched and kicked while lying on the ground beneath navy blue patio umbrellas outside the restaurant. Onlookers can be heard shouting “Knock it off!” and “Arrest them!” as the attackers continued beating the victims before fleeing.
Witness footage shows one attacker kneeling and repeatedly punching Zeevi in the face while another kicked him as he lay on the ground. A third suspect ran toward Levy, who had already been knocked down.
Zeevi said he was struck repeatedly while three attackers surrounded him.
“I had three guys on me. Two were punching and one was kicking me in the head while I was on the floor,” he said.
Levy briefly lost consciousness after being struck in the head and believes he was punched several times during the attack. Both men suffered visible swelling and injuries to their heads and faces. Levy’s lower lip was split and bleeding, and Zeevi’s shirt was torn during the assault.
One of the attackers was heard shouting “f***ing Jew” during the beating, according to Zeevi.
Two witnesses recorded the assault from nearby locations and provided the footage to police. One of the witnesses said he heard one of the attackers shout something in Farsi as the group fled.
Security personnel from Santana Row responded shortly after the suspects ran away and contacted the San Jose Police Department, which interviewed the victims and witnesses at the scene.
Zeevi and Levy were transported to a local hospital where both received CT scans before being released later that day.
The incident has deeply shaken the victims, who said what disturbed them almost as much as the attack itself was the reaction of many people nearby.
“People just went back to eating their meals like nothing happened,” Levy said, noting that only a few bystanders stepped forward to help.
Authorities say the case is being investigated as a possible hate crime.
The Anti Defamation League confirmed it is coordinating with San Jose police as well as city and county officials regarding the attack.
“This horrific assault against members of the Jewish community took place in broad daylight,” said Marc Levine of the Anti Defamation League’s San Francisco regional office.
Israel’s consul general to the Pacific Northwest also condemned the incident and called on authorities to move quickly to bring the attackers to justice.
For Zeevi and Levy the goal now is simple.
“The most important thing to me is that they are arrested and punished,” Zeevi said. “There was no reason for something like this.”
Levy added that they hope the case serves as a warning and prevents similar attacks in the future.
“We want to make sure this does not happen to someone else.”
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