(Jewish Group) Orthodox man beaten in Brooklyn in antisemitic attack
A Hasidic Jewish man was beaten up on the street by at least two attackers in Brooklyn on Sunday night. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) is currently investigating the attack as a potential hate crime.
Det. Annette Shelton of the NYPD’s public information unit confirmed to The Algemeiner that the attackers remain unidentified.
The police started their investigation on January 2nd, 2022 around 10.30 PM following the report of an attack taking place on Throop Avenue and Bartlett Street in the Brooklyn suburb of Williamsburg. Williamsburg famously harbors a Hasidic Jewish community of more than 50,000 inhabitants.
The victim, a 26-year-old man, was chased down by two individuals who struck him with what police described as an “unknown object,” resulting in a laceration to his head requiring immediate hospitalization.
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Related: Brooklyn Jewish group tries face-to-face approach to fighting antisemitism
On Sunday, Dec. 26, in the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn, Blake Zavadsky, 21, was walking down the street with his friend Ilan Kaganovich when he was punched, ostensibly for wearing an Israeli army sweatshirt. “He called us ‘dirty Jews’ and that’s all I remember,” Zavadsky said of his attacker, in an interview with CBSNewYork.
In the aftermath of the incident, dozens participated the following Sunday in a solidarity march through the nearby Bensonhurst neighborhood, led by the newly elected Republican city councilwoman Inna Vernikov. (The rally was moved out of Bay Ridge “out of respect for the neighborhood’s large Palestinian and Muslim population,” Vernikov spokesperson Tova Chatzinoff-Rosenfeld told the Brooklyn Paper, although it still drew counter-protestors from pro-Palestinian groups.)
Local and state politicians, including New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, denounced the crime in tweets and statements, and the New York State Police opened an investigation. The Anti-Defamation League of New York/New Jersey offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the individual responsible for the attack.
It’s a familiar pattern following the antisemitic incidents that occur in double-digit numbers every month in New York: An act of hate occurs, which is followed by a call for Jewish communities to rally for solidarity and protection. Politicians join the cause, either marching with their feet or denouncing antisemitism on social media.
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