The New York Police Department is investigating a possible bias-crime attack against a Jewish man on Saturday, and now the Anti-Defamation League is offering a reward to help catch the assailants.
According to NYPD spokesman Det. Hubert Reyes, the 51-year-old victim was walking down a street in Brooklyn, N.Y., on July 11 when occupants in a blue SUV began yelling anti-Semitic slurs at him. The victim answered them back, and “two men in the vehicle stepped out and punched the victim in the head.”
The assailants drove off while the victim walked to a nearby hospital, where he was treated for a laceration to his head and a broken finger on his right hand.
“We are alarmed and deeply disturbed that another violent anti-Semitic incident has occurred in Brooklyn,” said Etzion Neuer, interim regional director of the New York/New Jersey ADL. “This is horrific, and the hate must stop. The fact that this alleged attack took place during the Sabbath makes it even more egregious.”
Even though it has a large and heavily Orthodox Jewish population, Brooklyn is no stranger to anti-Semitic incidents.
In December 2019 and January 2020, incidents were reported on a near-weekly basis. In one case, Tiffany Harris, an African-American woman, slapped three different Orthodox Jewish women in Brooklyn. She was arrested and released under the state’s new bail-reform law, only to hit another individual shortly afterwards and was again arrested for assault.