There have been at least three physical assaults on Jewish people in New York City in the last three days that the NYPD are investigating as possible hate crimes, several news outlets have reported.
In the wake of a deadly massacre at a Jewish deli in Jersey City earlier this month, the Anti-Defamation League is offering a $10,000 reward for information related to at least one of the crimes.
The first alleged attack occurred on Monday in Manhattan’s Upper East Side and an arrest has been made, according to NBC New York. A 65-year-old man who was wearing a black yarmulke and looking at his cellphone was approached and punched in the face after a suspect made an anti-Semitic remark. The man was then kicked repeatedly after he fell to the ground. He suffered several wounds to the face, police said.
A 28-year-old man from Miami named Steven Jorge was arrested for the attack and charged with assault as a hate crime. On Thursday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo directed the state’s hate crimes task force to investigate the attack.
There were also several attacks against Jewish people in the city on Tuesday, according to local media. In the early morning hours on Tuesday, a 25-year-old Jewish man was harassed in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. According to reports, the man saw a large group of people walking toward him. Someone in the group allegedly shouted “fuck you Jew” and threw a Slurpie drink at the man, while someone else in the group allegedly filmed the incident as they ran off.
A second incident occurred in the same neighborhood later on Tuesday. A group of about six people came up behind a 50 year old Jewish man around 5 p.m. Tuesday and allegedly punched him in the back of the head before running off.
While police are not investigating the incident as a hate crime, another man was attacked in the Borough Park neighborhood just an hour after midnight on Christmas morning. That man reportedly told police he was punched in the face by an unknown suspect who immediately fled the scene.
“We are appalled at the sheer frequency and aggressive nature of these incidents,” Regional Director for ADL New York and New Jersey Evan Bernstein said in a statement. “They’re made particularly heinous by the fact they are occurring during a time when society is supposed to come together in peace for the holidays, and as the Jewish community is particularly on edge as it’s reeling from the deadly attack in Jersey City on December 10th.”
The ADL is offering a reward for information about the second Crown Heights attack.
The attack at a Kosher deli in Jersey City earlier this month is now being investigated as an act of terrorism. Authorities believe the suspects, who are now dead, were motivated by a hatred of Jewish people and the police when they shot and killed six people in the attack on December 10.
