Uber Driver Assaults Jewish Family in Vienna, Calls Them "Baby Killers"

A Jewish family, including Israeli members, was assaulted and verbally abused by an Uber driver in Vienna last week, who called them “murderers” and “child killers” before forcing them out of his vehicle, according to a report by the antisemitism reporting center of the Jewish Religious Community (IKG), Austria’s official Jewish representative body.

The incident involved a Jewish couple, their two children (aged 10 and 13), and a 75-year-old woman who had booked an Uber to celebrate a birthday at a restaurant. The driver, upon realizing some passengers were Israeli, hurled insults, labeled them “child killers,” and stopped the car to eject them. The IKG reported that the driver physically assaulted the father while continuing the verbal abuse. The family has since filed a police report.

Uber responded by immediately suspending the driver and initiating an internal investigation, according to Ynet.

Oskar Deutsch, president of the Jewish Community of Vienna, condemned the attack as part of a growing wave of antisemitism in the city. “It’s not enough to condemn antisemitic discrimination, abuse, threats, and physical assault,” Deutsch wrote on Facebook, citing recent incidents like a Salzburg cinema refusing to screen a film about Jewish life and Israeli guests being expelled from restaurants. He warned, “If decisive action is not taken, soon there will be no place left for Jews in Europe. This is not an exaggeration.”

The incident follows another recent case in Vienna, where Israeli cellist Amit Peled was asked to leave a restaurant after speaking Hebrew. Peled noted the lack of intervention from other diners, writing on Instagram, “The initial shock and humiliation were profound… The people around us went back to their dinners, their conversations, their wine, as though nothing had happened. Welcome to Europe, 2025.”