The 21-year-old victim of an anti-Semitic attack on the streets of Berlin has told German media that, despite the fact that he was wearing a traditional Jewish skullcap, he was not Jewish, but an Israeli Arab wearing the kippa as an experiment.

"I'm not Jewish, I'm an Israeli, I grew up in Israel in an Arab family," the man told German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.

He was conducting what he termed an "experiment" in response to a warning from a friend that wearing a kippa in Germany was unsafe, saying he refused to believe this.

An interview by Israeli broadcaster Kann identified the 21-year-old as Israeli Adam Armoush and showed that he was slightly injured by the belt.

"They kept cursing us and my friend asked them to stop cursing," Armoush told Kan TV. "They started to get angry and one of them ran to me and I knew it was important to film it because there would be no way to catch him by the time police arrived."

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אדם ארמוש, הצעיר שהותקף ברחובות ברלין משום שחבש כיפה, משחזר את התקרית בשיחה עם כאן חדשות @antonia_yamin pic.twitter.com/wxGC1fbT8Y — כאן חדשות (@kann_news) April 18, 2018

"Honestly, I'm suprised a thing like this could happen," he said in the interview.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday sharply condemned the street assault, which stoked the debate about anti-Semitism in the country.

A video of the attack Tuesday showing one of the victims being whipped with a belt quickly went viral.

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Merkel called attack in the city's trendy Prenzlauer Berg neighborhood "a very horrible incident" and vowed the government would respond "with full force and resolve" against growing anti-Semitism in Germany.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas tweeted that "Jews shall never again feel threatened here."

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"It's our responsibility to protect Jewish life here," he wrote in reference to the killing of six million European Jews by Germany under the Nazis in the Holocaust more than 70 years ago.

Berlin police said the two victims were 21 and 24 years old but didn't identify them.

Police said they are still looking for the attackers.

Two Jewish organizations posted the video , which showed a young man attacking the victim while yelling "Yahudi!" or "Jew" in Arabic.

Armoush told German broadcaster Deutsche Welle that he himself is an Israeli Arab, not Jewish, and that he wore the skullcap to make a point to a friend who said it was risky to do so in Germany.

"I was saying it's really safe and I wanted to prove it, but it ended like that," he said.

The head of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany, Aiman Mazyek, demanded punishment for the perpetrators, tweeting that "it makes me angry to see such violence full of hatred."

"There's anti-Semitism among German citizens, unfortunately, and also anti-Semitism from the Arabic-speaking region and the government will do everything (against it)," Merkel told reporters.

Police said after the belt attack, the suspect's two companions took him away. Armoush followed them. The attacker then took a glass bottle, as if he intended to hit him again, but a witness interceded.

Armoush then lifts up his shirt on the video and shows bruises left by the belt. He did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.

Berlin Mayor Michael Mueller also condemned the attack.

"I denounce this renewed anti-Semitic attack in the sharpest terms," Mueller said. "Anti-Semitism doesn't belong to the Berlin we want to live in."

Yet the RIAS group said Berlin saw 947 anti-Semitic incidents including 18 attacks and 23 threats last year.

Anti-Semitic incidents have been on the rise across Germany. Several Jewish students have reported anti-Semitic bullying in schools in recent months and Israeli flags were burnt during a recent protest in Berlin.

Last week, a rap band that included cynical references about the Nazis' Auschwitz death camp in its lyrics won the country's most important music prize — drawing strong criticism from other artists and government officials. Several past winners said they would return their awards.

German rappers Kollegah and Farid Bang won an Echo award for their new album, including a track that contains the line "my body more defined than Auschwitz inmates.'"

Their record company, BMG, defended the rappers Wednesday, citing "artistic freedom." The musicians themselves denied anti-Semitism but apologized for any offense caused.

In a separate incident, German aid group GIZ said Wednesday it has taken action against several employees accused of posting anti-Semitic material on social media. The group, whose biggest client is the German government, said it fired one employee, issued a written warning to another and reprimanded a third.

GIZ said last month it was alerted by reports in Israeli media to the posts by staff working in Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories. One featured the Israel flag with a Nazi swastika beneath the words: "I hate Israel."

Tanja Goenner, chair of GIZ's management board, said the group had "no reason to assume that anti-Semitism is a general problem."

Earlier this month, Germany appointed a diplomat to coordinate government activities against anti-Semitism.