A man was injured during a menorah lighting in Kentucky on Saturday when a driver shouting anti-Semitic libel attacked him, officials and police said.
The attack took place at the University of Kentucky Jewish Center in Lexington, according to the Chabad of the Bluegrass.
In a Facebook post, the Chabad said the driver pulled up outside the university center on Saturday night and started screaming foul language when a community member stepped “heroically” in front of the car.
“The attacker grabbed the man and held his arm, dragged him a block and ran over his leg,” said the group’s post. “The car then drove away.”
Rabbi Shlomo Litvin, who co-leads Chabad of the Bluegrass and has seen the incident, told Chabad.org that the victim is a Jewish US Marine Corps veteran who did not want to be identified.
He was taken to a hospital but was later released, Litvin told the site.
Police described the driver as a man who shouted racist insults at the city before the alleged attack, NBC partner WLEX reported.
The incident took place on the third night of Hanukkah. The Chabad said Saturday’s menorah lights were meant to face hatred after the University of Kentucky Jewish center was destroyed last month.
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“The fact that this event was marred by violence is horrifying, but all this has kept our Menorah illuminated,” said the Chabad.
Local and national leaders condemned the attack, along with Governor Andy Beshear say that “Hatred has absolutely no place” in Kentucky.
“That this attack took place on the third night of Hanukkah, during parties with menorah lighting, makes it all the more hateful, hurtful and cowardly,” he said.