The New York Police Department’s (NYPD) Hate Crimes Task Force is helping investigate a violent anti-Semitic attack last Friday on a Jewish man in Brooklyn, N.Y., announced Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
The Flatbush Shomrim Safety Patrol posted a surveillance video on Twitter that shows two people physically assault a Jewish man who was on his way to a synagogue on July 19. The victim’s tefillin were also stolen; Shomrim volunteers later recovered the religious items.
According to the NYPD, the 41-year-old visibly Jewish man reported that he was walking when two men approached him from behind and “repeatedly punched him in the face with a closed fist causing pain and a laceration.” The victim refused medical treatment at the scene of the crime and was not taken to a hospital.
“Yet another sickening anti-Semitic attack, this time in Flatbush. It’s outrageous,” Cuomo said on Saturday in a statement posted on Twitter. “To our Jewish community—I know this is exhausting. No one should have to worry about being attacked for their religious beliefs, ever. We will continue to fight against hate in all its forms.”
Police noted that “the incident has been deemed possible bias.” No arrests have yet been made.
Shomrim is offering $1,000 for information leading to an arrest in the case. Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa added $5,000 on top of the reward.
“This is a continuation of anti-Semitic attacks that are occurring in New York City in addition to the many crimes against Asians,” Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels, said at a Sunday afternoon press conference near the scene of the crime.
