NYPD steps up presence in Jewish communities after hate-related incidents

The New York Police Department (NYPD) is stepping up its presence in New York City’s Jewish communities following two hate-related incidents in Brooklyn’s Borough Park neighborhood over the weekend, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Sunday.

At around 7:45 p.m. on Saturday, two teens, ages 18 and 17, were approached by two men who “demanded that the victims repeat anti-Jewish statements,” NYPD said in a statement on Sunday.

When the victims, who are Jewish, refused, the attackers began punching them in their heads and one of the males put the 17-year-old in a “rear chokehold,” NYPD said, adding that one attacker also chased the victims while “brandishing a baseball bat.” The alleged attackers then fled in a blue Toyota Camry, according to police.

Within the same hour, three male occupants of a blue Toyota Camry began “to yell anti-Jewish statements” toward four male victims, who are Jewish, in front of a nearby synagogue, NYPD said.

After the four men escaped into the synagogue and locked the door, two of the three males exited their car, banged on the front door of the synagogue, and kicked the side mirror of a nearby car and then fled, the department said in its statement.

The NYPD tweeted that the three males are wanted for aggravated harassment.

As the NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force investigates the two incidents, police said they believe that the perpetrators in both cases are the same, a department spokesperson told CNN.

Mayor de Blasio met with Jewish leaders in Borough Park Sunday afternoon.

“We will stomp out anti-Semitism anywhere we find it. It is unacceptable. This is a city that is for everyone, and anybody who perpetrates an act of bias and prejudice, they will be found,” de Blasio told reporters after the meeting. “The NYPD’s track record is abundantly clear.”

The incidents Saturday evening demonstrate that more work needs to be done, de Blasio said.

“There is a stain of anti-Semitism that still lurks in this city, in this country, around the world. It has been here for thousands of years and every time people try to say it’s gone away, it hasn’t gone away. Anti-Semitism is too alive and well. It must be stopped.”

The department’s response will include the deployment of “critical response command officers” and having officers drive around with turret lights on to deter any would-be attackers, NYPD Chief of Department Rodney Harrison said during the news conference with the mayor.

The incidents were among several reported across the US last week as tensions flared over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict amid violence between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza. On Thursday, Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza agreed to a ceasefire, after more than a week of conflict left hundreds dead, most of them Palestinians.

In New York’s Time Square on Thursday, a man was arrested after a 29-year-old Jewish man was punched, kicked and pepper-sprayed, a source with the New York Police Department told CNN.

“I unequivocally condemn these brutal attacks on visibly Jewish New Yorkers and we will not tolerate anti-Semitic violent gang harassment and intimidation,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday. “Those of all faiths, backgrounds and ethnicities must be able to walk the streets safely and free from harassment and violence.”

Hate crimes reported to the NYPD currently stand at 191 so far this year citywide, marking a nearly 71% increase compared to the same point in 2020, according to the NYPD’s crime stats portal.