A Jewish family was violently ejected from an Uber taxi in Vienna last week when the driver discovered that some of the passengers were from Israel, the Antisemitism Reporting Center of the Jewish Community of Vienna (IKG) announced on Monday.
A Jewish couple with 10 and 13-year-old children, and a 75-year-old woman had reportedly ordered an Uber to go celebrate a birthday, the reporting center related on Facebook, but the driver learned en route that some of the passengers were Israeli.
The driver allegedly began to verbally abuse the passengers, saying he didn't want "child murderers" in his vehicle. The center said that the driver then pulled over to the side of the road and forced the family to leave his car.
The insults reportedly continued on the curb, culminating in a physical assault on the father. IKG president Oskar Deutsch said in a separate Monday social media post that the driver pushed the father and threatened to hit him.
"The children's crying wasn't enough for him," remarked Deutsch.
The center said that it had provided support to the family and aided them in filing a complaint with the police. The Vienna Police did not immediately respond to The Jerusalem Post enquiries on the matter.
Uber is investigating the issue so that it can take action and was in contact with IKG and local authorities.
The company told the Post on Wednesday that "We stand with the victims of these terrible assaults, which we strongly condemn. There is no place for violence or discrimination on Uber, and we take every such report extremely seriously. Our dedicated team immediately investigates each case and takes action, which can include banning the accused party from Uber.”
Rise of European antisemitism
Conference of European Rabbis president Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt called for "decisive action" against hate in a Tuesday X post about the incident.
Israeli ambassador to Austria David Roet also responded to the incident on social media, contextualizing that such events had become routine in Austria and Europe more broadly.
"Although this behavior does not represent the entire population of Austria, it is an intolerable reality," Roet wrote. "The embassy in Vienna is working with the authorities in Austria – at the federal level, at the local level, and with international organizations operating in the country, making it clear that hatred and antisemitism must not be normalized and must not be indifferently accepted."
"We are receiving lots of support – both from the political and public levels, including certain legislative changes after October 7. Additionally, Austrian leaders emphasize the importance they see in hosting tourists and visitors from Israel. They emphasize their historical and moral obligation to fight antisemitism and protect the Jewish community, but as you can see, there is still much to be done."
The IKG reporting center said that the incident was one of many in Austria in recent weeks in which discrimination was leveled against Jews who were identifiable because of their clothing, spoke Hebrew or Yiddish, or mentioned traveling from Israel.
Deutsch recalled incidents in which a Salzburg cinema didn't want to show a movie about Jewish life in the city, and another in which Israeli patrons were ejected from a restaurant.
"A situation has been created, including in Austria, in which insults and discrimination against Jews are trivialized as minor offenses and often later legitimized. Where will this lead? It is intolerable that, in the face of such threats, Jews are constantly thinking about hiding Jewish symbols, not speaking the language, or avoiding certain regions altogether," wrote Deutsch.
"If decisive action is not taken against this, by politicians and the rule of law, as well as by civil society, by individual activists on the streets or in social media, in editorial offices and by cultural workers, by teachers, and others in our society, then there will soon be no place left for Jews in Europe."