10 years since the anti-Semitic assassination of David Fremd: a crime that Uruguay must not forget

It is 10 years since the assassination of David Fremd, a crime that marked the Uruguayan Jewish community and generated a profound debate about anti-Semitism in the country.

On March 8, 2016, in the city of Paysandú, David Fremd, a 54-year-old merchant and a leader in the local Jewish community, was fatally stabbed in the middle of the street, in front of his office on Avenida España. The attacker, Carlos Omar Peralta (who called himself Abdullah Omar after converting to Islam), attacked him in the back with multiple stab wounds, explicitly motivated by anti-Semitic hatred. According to reports at the time, he shouted phrases such as “Allahu Akbar”

during the event.

One of Fremd's sons, Gabriel, intervened to defend his father and was injured, becoming a victim, witness and survivor of the attack. The crime shocked Uruguay, a country that prides itself on its tradition of tolerance, and was described by the Central Israeli Committee of Uruguay (CCIU) and other organizations as an anti-Semitic and

terrorist act.

Peralta was arrested, but in 2017 the courts declared him unimpeachable for psychiatric reasons and he was hospitalized. Eventually, he was released, causing outrage in the Jewish community and in the victim's family members

.

Ten years after the event, in March 2026, the memory of David Fremd (z” l) is still alive. Their sons Gabriel and Guillermo have spoken publicly about the persistent pain, the fear left behind by the attack and the need not to forget.

Organizations such as the CCIU, the Latin American Jewish Congress and the Paysandú community hold acts of homage, remembering that anti-Semitic hatred is not a “crazy person”, but an ideology that can be translated into violence.

The Fremd case challenges Uruguayan society: coexistence requires active vigilance against hate speech, anti-Semitic conspiracies and all forms of intolerance. To remember David Fremd is to resist oblivion and to commit to ensuring that events like this are not repeated

.