Brooklyn Police Investigate Attack On 2 Jewish Children Caught On Video
DEBARYLIFE – This week is New York Jewish Week. The Anti-Defamation League has voiced concern and the NYPD’s hate crimes unit is looking into security camera footage that purportedly showed two Jewish youngsters being beaten on a Williamsburg street on Sunday night.
The incident is captured on a blurry, silent video that was shared by the local news account Williamsburg365. It shows a man getting off a Citibike close to a group of kids playing on the sidewalk, and a few seconds later, he hits one of the kids in the head. The child drops to the ground, holds his head, and turns to walk away.
After tossing a second youngster to the ground, the attacker seems to stomp on the boy and kick him in the chest. The kid flees the scene as the attacker gets back on his bicycle and rides off down the street.
The kids were Jewish, and the event happened on Franklin Ave. in the Brooklyn area on Sunday night, according to a representative for Williamsburg Shomrim, a Jewish neighborhood watch organization that works with the police. This information was provided to New York Jewish Week.
One of the kids got a concussion and the other experienced back pain after the incident, according to the Shomrim spokesman.
The spokesperson claimed that Shomrim was in contact with the police’s Hate Crimes Task Force and the 79th precinct of the NYPD, which are looking into the event. They are pleading for anyone who has information to come forward.
The Hate Crimes Task Force is conducting an investigation, a police spokesperson stated.
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The event “very alarmed” the Anti-Defamation League, according to them.
The incident occurs in the midst of an increase in antisemitic hate crimes in New York City following the assault of Israel by Hamas on October 7 and the accompanying conflict in Gaza.
Preliminary police data indicates that since the beginning of October, there have been 285 antisemitic events reported to the police, a significant increase over the 153 occurrences that occurred during the same period last year.
Jewish security organizations claim that a large number of incidents probably go unreported.
In New York City, Jews have been the victim of more hate crimes than any other group, even before October 7. According to NYPD data, 62% of hate crimes against Jews occurred between the beginning of October and the end of March.
In Brooklyn, there have been instances of street abuse directed towards Orthodox Jews in recent years. Out of the 51 antisemitic assaults the ADL reported in New York City last year, 31 of them targeted “visibly Orthodox” Jews, according to the organization’s audit of such occurrences.