The United States embassy in Tallinn condemned an incident in the Estonian capital during which a man hurled insults at Rabbi Efraim Shmuel Kot.

A 27-year-old was being detained by traffic police Saturday for riding the tramway without a ticket when Rabbi Kot and family walked past on their way to shul. The man reportedly yelled “Heil Hitler,” “Sieg heil” and “What are you staring at, Jew? You’re going into the oven” in Estonian.

The US embassy issued a statement condemning the verbal assault, calling it hate speech, and saying it had no place in modern society. The embassy warned words matter and can turn into action if ignored.

According to the Estonian newspaper Postimees, the man was sentenced to eight days in jail by a court Tuesday for violations of public order and psychotropic drug use, although initial charges had included incitement to ethnic hatred. According to Kaido Saarniit, chief of the Central Police Department of the Northern Prefecture, the initial charge of incitement to ethnic hatred was dropped because the man hadn’t called for the murder of the rabbi.

“In law, incitement to hatred means calling for hate and violence with danger to someone’s life, health or property. Because there was no such call in this case and therefore no real danger, the misdemeanor was transformed into a violation of public order and the court accepted it,” Sarniit said.

Story in Lithuanian here.