SINGAPORE - A man who tried to break up a fight between two individuals ended up at the receiving end of words which wounded his racial feelings.

It happened after Israeli national Ben Shalom Matan, the head of security at the Jewish Welfare Board, intervened when he saw 38-year-old Mohammad Arif Ismail in a scuffle with a Nigerian dispatch worker at the Bras Basah MRT station.

Mr Matan and several passers-by tried to separate Arif from the other man, Abiola Gilbert Hakeem, 47, in the incident, which happened on Oct 10, 2023.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Cheronne Lim said that as Arif was being restrained, he targeted Mr Matan.

“The accused identified that Mr Matan was Jewish from his appearance, and he repeatedly uttered to Mr Matan: ‘Stinky Jewish, I murder you, I kill you because you are Jewish.’”

The prosecutor added: “In light of the current Israel and Hamas conflict, Mr Matan was hurt by the accused’s comments, as he has family members in Israel.”

Police officers later arrested Arif. On May 10, he was sentenced to a total of nine months and six weeks’ jail, and nine strokes of the cane.

This includes three weeks’ jail for uttering words with the deliberate intent to wound the racial feelings of any person. The maximum sentence for the offence is three years’ jail with a fine.

His sentence also included two weeks’ jail for affray, and nine months’ jail and nine strokes of the cane for carrying an offensive weapon in a public place.

It was not mentioned in court documents if action has been taken against Hakeem, who is a co-accused in the Oct 10 affray charge.

The Singaporean also received one week’s jail for affray over a separate incident involving a 63-year-old man on a train at Lavender MRT station in November 2022.

All four sentences are to run consecutively.

Before the Brash Basah MRT station incident, DPP Lim said Arif consumed about 10 pills of a benzodiazepine drug, which has a sleep-inducing effect, on Oct 9, 2023 at about 11pm. He had obtained the drugs illegally in Geylang.

Later that night, he slept on Singapore Management University grounds, which is located above the station.

The next morning, while he was at the train station, he bumped into Hakeem, who was handling a trolley. They started arguing and Arif kicked a box Hakeem was transporting, causing it to fall to the ground.

The two ended up in a scuffle, during which they punched each other. Arif armed himself with a Swiss Army knife which he was carrying, but he then fell to the ground and dropped the knife.

At this point, Hakeem tried to restrain him. Several passers-by also intervened, including Mr Matan.

After his arrest, Arif was examined by a senior resident at the Institute of Mental Health and diagnosed with multiple disorders, including adjustment disorder with depressed mood of mild severity.

However, the doctor concluded that there was no contributory link between his mental illness and the offences he committed at the Brash Basah MRT station, and added that Arif posed a relatively high risk of reoffending.

On Oct 7, gunmen from the Palestinian group Hamas launched an attack in southern Israel and killed 1,200 people and abducted 253.

Israeli forces responded by attacking sites in Gaza, which has seen the death toll pass 30,000.

The ensuing conflict led to a sharp rise in reports made to the Singapore Police Force.

In November 2023, Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said in Parliament that there were eight police reports of offensive remarks or actions targeted at the Jewish and Muslim communities lodged the month before.

This was a very sharp spike compared with previous months, he added.

Regional internet traffic on extremist sites also went up threefold, in a sign of the spillover effects of the Israel-Hamas war, DPM Wong said, adding that the Government has also seen more anti-Singapore rhetoric, including violent threats against Singapore by regional extremist elements online.

Minister for Home Affairs and Law K. Shanmugam on April 11 said that while Singapore has felt some impact from the ongoing war in Gaza, despite trying hard not to import the tensions, conflicts and arguments, the level of friction here is much less than it is elsewhere.

He also reiterated Singapore’s commitment to protecting all minority communities living in the country, including the Muslim and Jewish communities.