BERLIN — German police have opened an investigation into a report from a prominent Berlin rabbi that he was insulted and spat at as he was heading home from synagogue with his son.

Police said Wednesday they were treating the incident as a religiously-motivated crime and are currently looking for suspects.

Police say Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal was walking past an apartment building in the Wilmersdorf neighbourhood Friday night when he said he was spat at and sworn at by two men inside the building.

Teichtal, who said the two men spoke in Arabic, called in a statement for “tolerance, dialogue and training.”

Despite increasing anti-Semitic incidents, he says he remains “convinced most people in Berlin do not want to accept this aggression against Jews as a sad part of everyday Jewish life”

The Associated Press