Edited by: TJVNews.com
As the Middle East conflict continued to spill over into the countries of the diaspora in the form of anti-Semitic attacks on Jews, New York City became a flash point for those obsessed with the hatred of Jews.
The New York Post reported that 3 young men began to threaten worshippers at a Brooklyn synagogue on Saturday evening and damaged a car parked outside of the house of worship.
Witnesses to this vile manifestation of egregious Jew hatred were reported to be “traumatized”, according to the Post report.
Witnesses told the Post that the alleged agitators drove down 16th Ave in Borough Park yelling “f–k the Jews,” “kill the Jews” and “free Palestine,” as worshipers gathered to pray at the Agudath Israel of Sixteenth Avenue synagogue around 8 p.m.
One witness told The Post the men got out of the car and gave chase to him and two other Jewish people while screaming hateful threats. The Post reported that the instigators then banged on the doors of the Orthodox synagogue which had been locked by those inside marking the end of the Sabbath, according to witnesses on the scene.
After being locked out of the synagogue, a member of the group damaged the passenger side mirror of an unoccupied Audi Q7 that was parked outside of the building, before speeding off in a getaway car, witnesses told The Post.
State Assemblyman Simcha Eichenstein said outside the synagogue early Sunday morning that “people are literally afraid to walk the streets. This Shabbos, I’ve had people tell me I never believed I’d hear this in my lifetime. I’m afraid to walk the streets, I’m afraid to let my children walk the streets of Borough Park.”
“We need our leaders to come out forcefully. Today it’s the Orthodox community, tomorrow it’s a different community,” Eichenstein said.
Also on Sunday, in response to the litany of anti-Semitic assaults across the city, New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio paid a visit to the Boro Park community in Brooklyn to denounce the attacks.
According to a report on the Yeshiva World News web site, DeBlasio visited the 66th Precinct on 16th Avenue where he was joined by NYPD Chief of Department Rodney Harrison, Capt Jason Hagestad CO 66, Deputy Inspector Richie Taylor, CO Community Affairs, Rabbi Jack Meyer and Rabbi Bernard Freilach, Police Liaisons in Boro Park, as well as a Boro Park Shomrim coordinator.
The Mayor made clear that the NYPD will be out in force in Jewish communities throughout the city, according to the YWN report. “We will not tolerate hate crimes”, DeBlasio said.
He added: “We will find the perpetrators. We will stop them. This is going to be a very aggressive action today, tonight, and the days ahead, until we are certain that this is done. For me it is very personal. An attack on the Jewish community is an attack on all New Yorkers, and it will not be tolerated, and we will stop it. I want to be very, very clear. These perpetrators will be found. We have talked about it in detail. They will be found. They will be prosecuted. They will suffer the consequences.”
“We are again outraged and disgusted by reports that Jewish individuals were harassed and attacked last night, being blamed for the conflict in the Middle East,” said Scott Richman, ADL New York/New Jersey Regional Director on Sunday in a press release. “Especially in light of Thursday night’s antisemitic violence against Jewish people in midtown Manhattan, this is heinous, unacceptable and must stop now. We’ve said it before and we will continue to say it: scapegoating, blaming, and harassing Jewish people on the streets of New York or anywhere else does nothing but increase division, stoke antisemitism and hatred, and create fear. We thank NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force for investigating these incidents and thank the good Samaritan who helped the two teenagers get to safety in the second incident,” he added.
