Orthodox Jewish man punched in head in Williamsburg

Police say they aren’t treating the incident as an anti-Semitic attack; man yelled ‘Blah!’ as he hit the victim in Friday incident

Man hits Jewish man in Williamsburg, November 30, 2018 (Screen grab via NBC New York)
Man hits Jewish man in Williamsburg, November 30, 2018 (Screen grab via NBC New York)

An ultra-Orthodox man was beaten Friday in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg in New York, and hit on the head.

The man was wearing religious garb, including a fur streimel hat typically worn by Orthodox Jewish men on the Sabbath and holidays, but police said they weren’t treating the incident as an anti-Semitic attack, NBC New York reported.

Police said the attacker yelled “Blah!” as he ran up to the 32-year-old man on Throop Avenue.

The brutal attack, which was captured on camera, came days after two Orthodox Jewish boys were attacked in Brooklyn in one day.

A passerby repeatedly punched a 9-year-old in the face on Sunday evening in Williamsburg, police told the New York Post. The boy was walking with his mother when the attack occurred in the heavily Hasidic area.

Half an hour later, a 12-year-old boy was attacked by four or five males about a block away from the previous incident. The men pushed him to the ground and punched him, authorities told the Post.

In both incidents the attackers fled, and neither of the boys required medical attention. Both incidents are being investigated by the New York Police Department’s Hate Crimes Task Force.

Earlier this month, the NYPD circulated a surveillance video of a group of preteens and teens that it says has carried out a series of anti-Semitic attacks in Brooklyn, including throwing a metal pipe through the window of a synagogue, pushing a 10-year-old Hasidic girl, and knocking the hat off a 14-year-old Hasidic boy.

Last month, two Orthodox Jewish men were beaten in Brooklyn in two days.

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