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Police beef up patrols of Jewish sites as a wave of antisemitic attacks hits New York City

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by

Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz
in


Police beef up patrols of Jewish sites as a wave of antisemitic attacks hits New York City

The New York City Police Department just announced they made two arrests for suspected hate crimes against Jews.

The arrests come amid reports of increased attacks targeting Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn.

New York City Police Commissioner Keechant L. Sewell identified Carrington Maddox, a 31-year-old black man from East Williamsburg, as suspected of slapping a  27-year-old Hasidic Jewish man in the face on a Brooklyn street last Monday. Maddox was charged with aggravated harassment and menacing as a hate crime.

Police also arrested a juvenile for two separate incidents that took place before and after that attack.

On August 21, two Jewish men were sprayed with a fire extinguisher while walking to morning prayers in separate incidents minutes apart. One of the victims was 72, and the other was 64.

A 14-year-old black youth was charged with the assault as a hate crime, assault, and aggravated harassment.

On Thursday, the NYPD’s hate crimes unit said it had arrested three juveniles from Staten Island for grand larceny after they allegedly snatched the yarmulke off the head of a 13-year-old.

 

A video released Tuesday showed a young man punching a Jewish man in the face on a city sidewalk.

 

Earlier this month, the word “Hitler” was painted on the wall of a Brooklyn synagogue used by Holocaust survivors, and antisemitic leaflets were distributed in residential areas of Long Island.

On July 13, 31-year-old Yossi Hershkop was in his idling car at a Brooklyn intersection while his 5-year-old child sat in the back seat when he was attacked by four young men. Two of the men punched him through the open window. The attack was recorded on a security camera which also recorded the license plate of the attackers’ car. No arrests were made during the two weeks after the attack. After Hershkop publicized the event on social media, an arrest was made, but the suspect was released on a bond of $10,000. Hershkop identified all of the assailants as young black men.

Police said they were stepping up patrols around synagogues and other sensitive sites, increasing coordination with community safety groups, and preparing for the upcoming High Holiday season.

“In the wake of these senseless attacks, we deployed round-the-clock house of worship cars to visit synagogues routinely,” NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said in a press conference on Monday evening. “We increased patrols to visit sensitive locations.”

Hate crime arrests rose by 103% this year across New York City, with most of the increase being accounted for by an increased attacks on Jews. Attacks on Jewish New Yorkers up by 43% compared to last year, Inspector Andy Arias of the Hate Crimes Division said last week. In February,  a 409% rise in anti-Jewish hate crimes over the same period last year. The NYPD has confirmed 149 anti-Jewish hate crimes between the start of the year and June 28, representing an incident every 29 hours on average.

But it should be noted that in a study released this past July, the New York-based group Americans Against Antisemitism found that of the 118 adults arrested for anti-Jewish hate crimes in New York City since 2018, only one has been convicted and sent to prison.


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