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Edited by: Fern Sidman
In yet another disturbing incident of hate-driven violence, a 9-year old boy was threatened with a knife and subjected to anti-Semitic slurs in a New York City playground, as was reported by the New York Post on Thursday. The incident occurred at the KIPP AMP Middle School and MS 354 in Crown Heights, marking another dark chapter in the recent wave of anti-Semitic attacks in the city.
The attack took place on Monday evening, as a family arrived at the park for an evening outing. Chaya Sundroy, who hails from Israel and has been living in the United States for a decade, described how her children were left traumatized by the terrifying event, according to the Post report. She recounted that her daughter had also been targeted during the attack.
The assailant, described as a hateful teenager, directed vile slurs at the young boy, including the chilling threat, “I will kill you, Jew,” the Post reported. The boy’s mother, Chaya Sundroy, was present at the scene, and the attacker also yelled “Heil Hitler,” which Sundroy explained was actually aimed at her daughter.
During the attack, witnesses in the vicinity added to the horrifying incident by shouting “Allahu Akbar” in front of the children, as was indicated in the Post report. The situation escalated when one of the attackers brandished a knife, further intensifying the fear and distress experienced by the victims and witnesses.
“My kids were shaking, they were crying,” Sundroy told the Post. “They asked why – we didn’t do nothing to him, why they say that, why they want to killed us. They were really, really scared about it,” she added, as was reported by the Post.
The mother of the young boy tried to locate the unknown assailant but was unsuccessful. The Post report said that shortly after, a group of individuals confronted the family and targeted her daughter with more anti-Semitic comments. When the knife-wielding suspect was mentioned, Sundroy recounted, “When the guy took out the knife, I saw it. It was very close to me. I saw it and heard it.”
The attackers fled the scene when the police were called, the Post reported. Fortunately, no one was physically injured during the incident. The New York City Police Department is now searching for a suspect and is treating the case as a “possible biased incident.”
This incident is part of a concerning trend in New York City, which has seen a notable increase in hate crimes, especially targeting the Jewish community, as was stated in the Post report. Following the recent Hamas terror attack in Israel that left over 1400 dead and over 5000 injured, anti-Semitic incidents have surged, accounting for nearly 60% of the reported hate crimes in the city, the report added.
Chaya Sundroy expressed her disbelief at the incident, stating, “In New York, we thought we were safe.”
In a related development, on Wednesday, thousands of students from a number of New York City colleges and universities staged pro-Hamas demonstrations throughout the city.
Among them were such institutions as the City University of New York (CUNY) Grad Center, Columbia University, New York University (NYU), Brooklyn College, and Hunter College as well as St. Francis College, The New School, and Cooper Union.
According to sources, “Jewish students were locked in the school library as a pro Hamas rally outside of the Cooper Union building learned the Jews were afraid and sitting in the library. They then brought the protest inside and were barricading all exits so the Jewish students could not leave. Police were called but were afraid to get involved. Security locked the Jewish students in as they expressed concern that they could not protect the Jews. Later in the day, police escorted the Jewish students out through an underground evacuation route. “
