Brutal Antisemitic Attack in Brooklyn: “People Think They Can Get Away With It”

In yet another horrific antisemitic attack, an 18-year-old boy was punched in the face on Tuesday because he wouldn’t say “Free Palestine,” when a group of teens approached him and a friend, Fox News reported. The Jewish teen attempted to ignore the group when he was punched, which resulted in a bloody eye.

The attacker and his group reportedly ran away after the incident occurred and the victim went to the hospital. No one has been arrested at this time.

This is just another attack in a large string of them being reported in the U.S. On Sunday, a person was attacked while walking with children in Williamsburg. Then last Friday, a Brooklyn rabbi was attacked by a man shouting antisemitic comments at him. The rabbi was taken to the hospital and still no arrests have been reported.

“When we hear about these violent antisemitic attacks that are happening nearly daily in New York City, we know the reason they’re happening is because people think they can get away with it,” Brooklyn councilman Kalman Yeger told Yeshiva World News from the scene of the attack, the Algemeiner reported. “And as long as that continues to be the case, it’s not going to end.”

Antisemitic incidents hit an all-time high in the U.S. in 2021 (since incidents started being recorded in 1979), according to a statement from the Anti-Defamation League, with a total of 2,717 incidents of assault, harassment and vandalism. This is an average of more than seven incidents per day.

It looks like they’re already on the rise from that. In February of this year, the New York Police Department recorded 56 hate crimes against Jews, compared with 11 in the same month the previous year. In the same statement put out at the end of April, ADL CEO and National Director Jonathan Greenblatt said “When it comes to antisemitic activity in America, you cannot point to any single ideology or belief system, and in many cases, we simply don’t know the motivation. But we do know that Jews are experiencing more antisemitic incidents than we have in this country in at least 40 years, and that’s a deeply troubling indicator of larger societal fissures.”

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Alex Abel

Alex is an editor, writer and content creator. Most recently she served as the Editor-in-Chief of 2.0, Mishpacha’s business magazine. Before that she was the News Editor at People Style where she covered entertainment, fashion, beauty and lifestyle. She has interviewed dozens of celebrities including Sarah Jessica Parker, Kate Hudson, Melissa McCarthy, Priyanka Chopra, and Khloé Kardashian. She’s worked and created partnerships with influencers, hosted and produced videos and managed the brand’s social media accounts. Previously, she worked as an assistant editor at Seventeen. Her work has also appeared on POPSUGAR.com, People.com, Time.com, SHAPE and the website she launched, Chai on Life, which profile and highlights inspirational Jewish women.” During Hurricane Irene, she worked as a stringer for the New York Times reporting on flood conditions. She is a graduate of Binghamton University with a degree in English.