Brooklyn Jews Remain on High Alert Following Two More Antisemitic Attacks Over Weekend

Algemeiner Staff

A yeshiva school bus in Brooklyn vandalized with swastika graffiti. Photo: Screenshot

The Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn is again on high alert following at least two antisemitic incidents over the weekend that involved violence and vandalism.

A Jewish man who was walking along Stockton Street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of the borough on Friday night was assaulted by a man who emerged from a minivan. CCTV footage of the attack, which occurred at 10:30 p.m., showed the assailant run from the van and punch his victim, who was identifiably Jewish through his traditional clothing. Medics treated the victim at the scene for injuries to his face.

On Sunday morning, multiple yeshiva school buses parked in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn were discovered to have been vandalized with swastika graffiti.

New York City politicians and Brooklyn council members rushed to condemn both incidents.

“Antisemitic acts of violence are an attack on every New Yorker and they will be met with the force of the entire city,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams declared on Twitter.

New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams commented on the footage of Friday night’s assault that it was “difficult to watch these videos that have become too frequent.”

“Acts of hate continue. Antisemitism continues. The better New York must continue to stand up in face of bigotry,” Williams urged.

Brooklyn Council member Lincoln Restler said that he was “angry and heartbroken by two more antisemitic, violent incidents in our community over Shabbos.” Restler’s colleague Chi Ossé, who represents Bedford-Stuyvesant and North Crown Heights on the council, tweeted that “antisemitism has no place in my district, or anywhere for that matter. No person should be assaulted because of their religion. Absolutely no one.”

Jewish groups also condemned the incidents, with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) offering a $7,500 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

“The Jewish community is on extreme edge and this violence as got to stop,” the ADL said in a statement. “It is becoming normalized, and we simply cannot accept that as the state of affairs.”