Fourth Attack on Orthodox Jews in One Week in Brooklyn

On Monday night, the fourth attack against Orthodox Jews in the last week occurred in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

A 65-year-old man was accosted in the street across from his home by a teenage boy and girl, who approached him from behind and then punched him the face, laughing all the while.

On Tuesday afternoon, CBS 2 interviewed a neighbor of the victim, who wished to remain anonymous; the victim, who had cuts and bruises near his eye, had no comment. The neighbor said his son heard the commotion and ran outside, where he intervened to stop the assault. The teenagers fled after that.

Only hours before that, around 1 a.m. Monday morning, someone beat a 25-year-old Orthodox Jewish man with a bottle; the suspect was captured on surveillance video. Before that, on June 29, someone fired paintballs at two Orthodox Jewish men in a grocery store; five minutes later, a 62-year-old Orthodox Jew was targeted by a paintball blocks away from the grocery.

Rabbi David Niederman of the United Jewish Organization of Williamsburg told CBS 2, “Basically people start thinking, ‘Can I allow my child to be out even during the day?’ And even adults, at night it’s scary.”

Police flyers have been distributed showing the suspect in the bottle attack; the flyers also warn the community to be highly aware of their surroundings. Police believe the latest assault, the bottle attack and the paintball attacks are unrelated. A $2,500 reward for information leading to an arrest in the bottle attack has been offered by police; the NYPD’s hate crime task force is investigating all of the attacks.