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Jewish Brooklyn man beaten with own belt in suspected anti-Semitic attack
Victim apparently attacked after arguing with 2 men drinking outside synagogue; incident is third assault on Jews in NYC borough in less than a week
An Orthodox Jewish man was assaulted Saturday in Brooklyn, in the third suspected anti-Semitic attack in the New York City borough in less than a week.
The attack occurred outside a synagogue in the Midwood neighborhood as Shabbat was ending Saturday evening, according to CBS2 New York.
Quoting police, the network said the victim was on his way home when he saw two people drinking outside the synagogue. Following an apparent argument, one of the men shoved the victim to the ground, took the victim’s belt and hit him in the face with it repeatedly.
The victim received medical treatment for facial and head injuries after the attack.
Police said it was too early to determine whether the incident was a hate crime, but former New York state assemblyman Dov Hikind labeled it as such.
“A young Jewish man was called a ‘F***ing Jew’ and then belted over the head with a metal belt buckle,” he wrote on Twitter.
Hikind, who represented the area where the attack took place, also called on New York Mayor Bill de Blasio to take action.
“Do we need history to repeat itself for you to take action?! Must we die first?!” he said.
BREAKING: just got a call from 70th pct about another violent antisemitic hate crime. A young Jewish man was called a “F***ing Jew” and then belted over the head with a metal belt buckle!@NYCMayor do we need history to repeat itself for you to take action?! Must we die first?! https://t.co/6WgNPnOR8l
— Dov Hikind (@HikindDov) September 1, 2019
The assault came just days after a Jewish man was attacked with a stone in Crown Heights.
Police said a group of men threw the rock at a delivery driver, an Orthodox Jew, as he sat in his truck at the corner of Brooklyn Avenue and Prospect Place at approximately 5 p.m. Thursday, WNBC-TV reported.
The rock smashed the driver’s side window, struck him in the eye and cut his face. He refused medical attention.
The attack took place about a dozen blocks away from where a rabbi was injured Tuesday morning after having a paving stone thrown at him in what is being investigated by police as a hate crime.
“The continued violence and hate directed towards visibly observant Jewish individuals in our community must stop now,” Evan Bernstein, the New York/New Jersey Regional director of the Anti-Defamation League said in a statement Friday.
In Tuesday’s incident, police told WNBC that Abraham Gopin, 63, was going through his morning exercises in Lincoln Park Terrace when another man allegedly yelled a Jewish slur at him and threw a rock in his direction, but missed. The father of 10 confronted the rock thrower, who started punching him, police said. Gopin fought back before being hit with the paving stone.
The assailant fled the park on foot. Gopin was hospitalized but is now recovering at home after suffering a broken nose, two broken teeth and bruises.
There have been 150 anti-Semitic hate crime complaints in New York so far this year, CBS2 quoted police saying, more than double the number at the same time last year.
