Police Investigate Four Alleged Anti-Semitic Assaults In NYC In Less Than A Week As Hanukkah Begins

Police are investigating four reported attacks on Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn that occurred in less than a week, stirring anxiety among Brooklyn’s Jews as Hanukkah begins.

Police said the first of the weekend’s reported attacks happened Friday evening at approximately 6:40 p.m. when an unidentified man punched an Orthodox Jewish man in the back of the head, yelled “Blah,” and ran away. The attack is part of a recent series of four apparently antisemitic incidents that occurred within a week, two of which happened over the weekend and involved assault.

“There has been a shocking number of unprovoked assaults on religious Jewish New Yorkers in recent weeks,” said New York City Councilman Chaim Deutsch, according to Fox 5.

Another Jewish man was reportedly assaulted Saturday as he walked home from his synagogue service. Days before, a Columbia University faculty member found two swastikas and a racial slur spray-painted on the outside of her office November 28. An attacker identified only as a black teen also assaulted a 9-year-old Orthodox Jewish boy November 24 in Brooklyn, punching him in the face before fleeing.

The Anti-Defamation League issued an offer of $5,000 for information leading to the arrest of the man responsible for the Friday assault.

“According to our records, this marks the fourth anti-Semitic assault in less the one week, and we are deeply troubled by this,” said Evan R. Bernstein, Regional Director of ADL for New York and New Jersey, according to News 12 Brooklyn.

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