Ukraine arrests 4 over brutal beating of Israeli rabbi

Rabbi Menachem Mendel Deitsch (Courtesy)

Ukrainian police arrested four suspects, two of them minors, in connection to the brutal assault of Rabbi Mendel Deitsch in the Ukrainian town of Zhytomyr earlier this month.

Deitsch, who serves as a Chabad Lubavitch emissary, remains in serious but stable condition at an Israeli hospital after a group of assailants robbed and beat him in the early hours of October 7.
According to reports in Ukrainian media, two males and two females from the Carpathian mountain region attacked Deitsch outside Zhytomyr’s main train station.
The assailants stole Deitsch’s cash and cellphone, leaving him bleeding and unconscious under a bridge, where he was only discovered by passersby the following morning.
Ukrainian police identified the suspects last week, and made the arrests on Monday.
Deitsch underwent emergency surgery at a Zhytomyr hospital for multiple head injuries and brain trauma. His family arranged for Deitsch to be airlifted to Israel several days later for continued medical treatment at Tel Hashomer Hospital in Ramat Gan.
Rabbi Shlomo Wilhelm, director of Chabad-Lubavitch in Zhytomyr, said Deitsch most likely was a victim of a criminal assault and not an antisemitic one.
“It should be noted that this is an unusual case that does not in any way reflect on the community in Ukraine,” Wilhelm said.