The New York City Police Department arrested a 42-year-old man for assault during a protest in the Borough Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y., on Tuesday night when a 61-year-old man was attacked.
The demonstration began around 5:30 p.m. at 3614 14th Avenue and ended about 9 p.m., the NYPD told JNS. The address that the police department provided is in a heavily Jewish neighborhood, across the street from a synagogue, Jewish school and Judaica store.
“During the demonstration, police were informed by a 61-year-old male victim that he was punched in the face, with a closed fist, by an unknown male,” the NYPD stated. “The unknown male was taken into custody on the scene.”
Emergency medical services treated the victim on-site “for minor injuries to the face,” the NYPD told JNS. It added that Anthony Frausto, 42, of Brooklyn, was arrested for third-degree assault at around 7:40 p.m. (Third-degree assault in New York State is a class ‘A’ misdemeanor, which carries a prison sentence of up to one year.)
“Last night we saw protesters in Borough Park targeting Jewish New Yorkers with hateful rhetoric and antisemitic chants. This is unacceptable,” stated New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat. “We are grateful to the NYPD for their diligent work keeping all New Yorkers safe.” (At press time, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, had not commented publicly.)
“It should come as a shock to no one that the pro-Hamas mob targeting Jews and promising to ‘flood’ Borough Park has descended into violence,” stated Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.). “Violence is not a bug but a feature of the so-called ‘free Palestine’ movement, which has no desire to free Palestinians from Hamas.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) stated that “the vile and antisemitic rhetoric directed at Jewish residents in Borough Park is unacceptable and unconscionable.”
“We will not tolerate the egregious behavior on display that was clearly designed to intimidate and harass Jews in the Borough Park neighborhood,” Jeffries stated. “People of goodwill across our city and throughout the nation must continue to do everything possible to protect our Jewish brothers and sisters, who are under assault and fight the cancer of antisemitism with the fierce urgency of now.”
“Mask-wearing protestors chanting antisemitic slogans in the middle of the most Orthodox Jewish community in the city is all about provocation and not about free speech,” stated Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). “I applaud the NYPD for keeping order and condemn in strongest terms those who used antisemitic language and symbolism at this event.”
The group Pal-Adwa organized the antisemitic protest, ostensibly against the sale of Israeli real estate. A flier advertising the protest stated that “Palestine is not for sale” and referred to stopping “the sale of stolen Palestinian land.”
“I strongly condemn this protest. This inflammatory rally, held at the center of our cherished Orthodox community of Borough Park, is designed to intimidate and harass Jewish people,” said Zellnor Myrie, a New York state senator who is running for mayor. “There is a time and place for peaceful protest—but this is not it.”
Jenifer Rajkumar, a New York state representative, condemned the “hate-fueled event targeting the largely Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of Borough Park,” saying “these protesters are deliberately singling out for harassment one of the largest Jewish communities in the world. This must stop: everyone deserves dignity, courtesy, and respect.”
“Everyone has the right to protest, but holding a rally in Borough Park—one of the largest Orthodox Jewish populations in the country—seems aimed only at inflaming tensions,” stated Justin Brannan, chair of the New York City Council finance committee. “This is not what we need in New York City right now.”
Andrew Cuomo, a former New York governor rumored to be running for mayor, wrote that “yesterday a violent display of hatred took place—an affront to the Orthodox Jewish community of Borough Park and to all New Yorkers.”
“We cannot tolerate hate towards our Jewish brothers and sisters,” Cuomo added. “Those who broke the law must be punished to the fullest extent.”
‘A little bit of blood’
Heshy Tischler, a candidate for the New York City Council’s 44th District, in Brooklyn, told JNS that he was the victim who was punched.
“I organized a counter-protest, where I told everybody to come and had about a few hundred people there,” he told JNS. “I was filming a video when a few of them came over to my face, and one guy just kept coming to me, following me, and then I videotaped him and he just punched me in the face.”
“He thought I’d go down, but I attacked him back and beat him up, and then the cops ended up letting him go,” Tischler told JNS. “So I chased him down again with a couple of friends and we caught him, and then the police finally arrested him.”
Police officers wanted to take Tischler to the hospital, but he told JNS that there was just “a little bit of blood.”
“Listen, I’m 300 pounds, man. You need a bullet to take me down,” he said. “I’ve been running these streets for 40 years. I’m not bragging, but I’ve done it all.” He added that he filed a police report on site, “but they let him go.”
Some 200 anti-Israel protesters were present at the gathering, with 600 pro-Israel counter protesters, Tischler told JNS.
“They came into a neighborhood with 330,000 Jewish families. It’s not like a mixed neighborhood. Every house is owned by a Jew. Every block has a school, a synagogue, every store is kosher,” he told JNS.
“There was no reason for them to come here,” he said. “The police allowed it.”