The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating a string of antisemitic incidents that occurred over the weekend and police say they are still on the hunt for several suspects.
Two of the alleged suspects were last seen at a gas station at Nostrand Avenue and Kings Highway in Flatbush, according to local media.
As seen on NYPD surveillance video, one of the attacks occurred just after 11:30 p.m. Friday on Avenue L near East 32nd Street. It shows one suspect intimidating a 22-year-old Jewish man, before police said the suspect slapped him in the face, causing swelling and knocking off his yarmulke. The suspect immediately fled the scene, where a second suspect was waiting for him in a gray minivan.
The ADL partnered with the NYPD to offer a reward of up to $5,000, leading to an arrest and conviction of the two perpetrators.
Meanwhile, police are also investigating antisemitic graffiti at a Jewish-owned dental lab in Queens.
A local rabbi called police after noticing the vandalism Saturday night on a window of the lab on Harrow Street in Forest Hills.
Antisemitic hate crimes in New York City almost quadrupled in January 2022 compared to the same month last year, local media outlets reported, citing NYPD crime statistics.
Throughout the month of January, 15 different antisemitic incidents were reported. This is a sharp contrast with January 2021, which only saw four incidents reported.
But as January ended, antisemitic incidents did not, with more happening in the city at the beginning of February.
At the start of the month, a school bus for a yeshiva in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, with visible Yiddish writing was vandalized with antisemitic graffiti, including the use of the Nazi swastika.
Another incident occurred on February 4, when a 24-year-old ultra-Orthodox Jewish man was suddenly assaulted when an unidentified individual ran up behind him and attacked him on the sidewalk, knocking his shtreimel onto the ground.
The assaults were condemned by New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
"Hatred won't be tolerated in our city," Adams tweeted. "Antisemitic acts of violence are an attack on every New Yorker and they will be met with the force of the entire city."
Following the antisemitic graffiti in Queens, he added: "This would be disgusting anytime but it’s especially outrageous as we come to the end of Shabbos. We won’t let this vicious hatred go unanswered in our city."
Jerusalem Post staff contributed to this report.