BELGRADE (EJP)--- Two Israelis were severely beaten by a pair of Serbian neo-Nazi skinheads at a concert in Belgrade at the weekend, in an attack described as “anti-Jewish and racist” by the local Jewish community.

Yariv Avram, 27, suffered head injuries while his friend Bojana Petkovic, 23, was left bruised after they were hit repeatedly in the face by the assailants who have now been detained by the city’s police.

The Israelis told the media that the attackers, who have now been identified by Avram and Petkovic, were wearing Nazi t-shirts and singing Nazi songs.

According to Belgrade radio station B92 one of the two assailants, an American citizen of Serbia, handed himself in to the authorities after claiming responsibility for the assault, but claimed the incident was blown out of proportion as he “did not beat but hit” Avram.

Although the Israelis had originally told the media they were concerned about the Belgrade police’s apparent slow response, on Tuesday they moved to redress the balance somewhat.

“After such a swift reaction by the police, I have regained my trust in this country. However, I think that in the future the police should react even faster, arrest the attackers right away or better yet, prevent such attacks”, Avram said.

Shocking attack

Avram detailed the events leading up to the attack in an interview published by B92.

He said he and Petkovic had already entered the concert arena when the attackers approached the on the stairs.

“They surrounded us chanting ‘Auschwitz’ at me,” Avram said. “They yelled at me that I am a bloody Jew and asked me whether I knew what my country did to theirs. They shouted: go to Germany.

“Then my friend stepped in and we started running, but they caught up with us and started beating us with all their might. They hit me on the head, one of them hit my eye. They hit my friend too. It was horrible.”

Petkovic added: “We started running, but they surrounded us again and started beating us. Yariv was hit on the head and body, and they kicked me around. We somehow managed to reach the police.”

"This is not the first such anti-Jewish and racist attack by skinheads and other such groups,” the Serbian Jewish Community said in a statement.

Anti-Semitic rise

Former deputy prime minister Zarko Korac said this week that the problem of anti-Semitism in Serbia has been forced underground as Serbs refuse to accept its existence.

Korac told B92: “For a long time we lied to ourselves that there is no anti-Semitism in Serbia. Our society will have to sober up and realize that the fact the vast majority of people are not anti-Semitic does not mean there aren’t these very aggressive anti-Semitic groups in the society itself. They understand the public’s silence as a signal to continue.

“The question that needs to be answered here is will we treat this latest incident as a folly by a group of young men, or if we will, as a society, start openly discussing the fact anti-Semitism is taking some sort of root even in this country.

“We need to fight this on the political front as well, and it needs to be said that the latest crisis in the Middle East might have added to this.”