ADL condemns string of anti-Semitic attacks in New York City

The Anti-Defamation League on Thursday condemned a rash of hate crimes against Jews in New York City after at least three assaults in just over 24 hours.

Men in Manhattan and Brooklyn were attacked in suspected hate crimes on Monday and Tuesday, officials said, even as authorities have vowed to redouble efforts against anti-Semitism and other bias crimes following a deadly shooting in New Jersey earlier this month.

“We are appalled at the sheer frequency and aggressive nature of these incidents,” said Evan Bernstein, regional director for ADL New York and New Jersey.

“They’re made particularly heinous by the fact they are occurring during a time when society is supposed to come together in peace for the holidays, and as the Jewish community is particularly on edge as it’s reeling from the deadly attack in Jersey City on Dec. 10,” Bernstein said.

On Monday a man was arrested for physically assaulting a 65-year-old Orthodox Jewish man while allegedly shouting anti-Semitic slurs.

Steven Jorge, 28, of Miami was arrested shortly after the incident and charged with assault as a hate crime, local media reported.

The suspect allegedly shouted “Fuck you Jew bastard” before punching the victim, who was wearing a black yarmulke, according to statement Tuesday from Dov Hikind, a former New York state assemblyman and founder of the Americans Against Antisemitism coalition.

Jorge continued to kick his victim after he fell to the ground on East 41st Street, on the Upper East Side in New York, police said.

The victim was treated at the Mount Sinai Medical Center for bruising and cuts.

On Tuesday afternoon, a Jewish man was assaulted by a group of teenagers in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Crown Heights. The teens followed the victim down the street, with one hitting him in the head and knocking him to the ground.

A police report was filed over the incident and the case was referred to the Hate Crimes Task Force, according to the local news website Crownheights.info. Surveillance cameras captured the incident, according to the site.

The third incident was reported as a case of aggravated harassment in Brooklyn, according to the ADL.

In Teaneck, New Jersey, across the Hudson River from New York City, police on Wednesday were investigating an altercation involving anti-Semitic slurs that began at a kosher bagel store.

A suspect was in custody on suspicion of a bias crime, though authorities indicated the man, who is known to police, may have mental health problems.

According to police, the suspect entered Sammy’s Bagels eatery and told a patron to take off his hat, while using an expletive. He repeated the slur with a second person, resulting in a shoving match in which the victim was scratched in the face. He then exited the store and made the same comment to a third person, before being picked up by police.

“The investigation is ongoing and being treated as a bias incident,” police said in a statement.

On Friday a man was arrested and accused of setting fire to a Yeshiva University dormitory using matches set out for Hanukkah, authorities in New York said.

Peter Weyand, 33, is suspected of setting three fires in the Schottenstein Residence Hall dormitory in Midtown Manhattan as students slept, New York’s Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said in a statement.

Over half of all hate crimes in the city so far this year have targeted Jews.

On December 10, two shooters entered the JC Kosher Supermarket in Jersey City, New Jersey, killing three people before being killed by police themselves. Authorities said they were motivated by a hatred of Jews and law enforcement.