String Of Anti-Semitic Hate Crimes Prompts Cop Surge In Brooklyn

BROOKLYN, NY — More cops will be stationed around Brooklyn neighborhoods after a string of anti-Semitic attacks plagued the first days of the Jewish holidays, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

The mayor announced Friday that NYPD plans to increase its presence in Borough Park, Crown Heights and Williamsburg, including officers who will check on houses of worship and other "critical areas."

The announcement comes after at least eight anti-Semitic incidents throughout the city since the Dec. 13, many of which have happened during Hanukkah over the last week, according to police.

"Hate doesn't have a home in our city," de Blasio said in a series of tweets. "Anyone who terrorizes our Jewish community WILL face justice...Anti-Semitism is an attack on the values of our city — and we will confront it head-on."

Nearly all of the incidents flagged by police and the Anti-Defamation League were in Brooklyn.

In the most recent incident, a man came into the Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters on Eastern Parkway Friday morning and threatened to shoot up the building, according to police and reports. The man ran toward the Utica subway station and nobody was injured during the incident, police said.

De Blasio visited the 770 Eastern Pkwy. building to talk with leadership on Friday afternoon.

Just hours before that, three women were slapped in the face walking in Crown Heights just after midnight. The woman who police arrested for the crime said she had attacked the woman because she believed they were Jewish, police said. She was charged with a hate crime.

On Thursday, another woman in Sheepshead Bay attacked a mother walking with her child. The woman called the mother a "f---ing Jew," according to Council Member Chaim Deutsch. The woman has been arrested, the council member said.

Police said there were also three potential hate crimes on Tuesday.

Two were in Crown Heights, including a man who was hit in the back of the head and another who was harassed by a group yelling profanities, who then threw a drink on him, while he was walking down Kingston Avenue, according to police. The third incident Tuesday was in Borough Park, where a man was hit in the face walking home, police said.

Another attack happened Monday when two Hasidic Jewish boys, ages 6 and 7, were punched in their apartment building on Wilson Street in Williamsburg, according to Council Member Stephen Levin.

The ADL has said that they will offer a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of those that hit the Crown Heights man.

The recent incidents are particularly disturbing given a recent hate crime in Jersey City that killed six people.

“We are appalled at the sheer frequency and aggressive nature of these incidents,” said Evan Bernstein, Regional Director for ADL New York and New Jersey. “They’re made particularly heinous by the fact they are occurring during a time when society is supposed to come together in peace for the holidays, and as the Jewish community is particularly on edge as it’s reeling from the deadly attack in Jersey City on December 10th."

"Enough is enough; now is the time for society to come together in rejection of this hate and for public officials and community leaders to speak up, lead by example, and demand meaningful change to protect the Jewish community," he continued.

The Hanukkah attacks add to more than 100 anti-Semitic incidents in Brooklyn this year.

The spike recently led the ADL and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams to expand a program that teaches Brooklyn kids to fight against bias.

The mayor's office did not immediately respond to questions about how many new officers will be stationed in the Brooklyn neighborhoods or how long their increased presence will last.

This piece was updated with the latest information from the NYPD released Friday afternoon.