An attacker runs toward a van in order to make his escape after punching a Jewish man in Flatbush, Brooklyn, February 11, 2022. Photo by Flatbush Shomrim Safety Patrol

By Rudy Malcom February 14, 2022

A Hasidic Jewish teenager was attacked in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn on Friday, and a Hasidic man said he was targeted by the same man minutes before. The attacks, which are being investigated by the police department’s Hate Crime Task Force, follow a string of antisemitic assaults in the borough over the past month.

Videos of the first assault shared by the Flatbush Shomrim Safety Patrol show an unidentified man following the 22-year-old victim and then slapping him in the face before running off and jumping into a passing van.

@NYPDHateCrimes is investigating this attack, and make no mistake an attack on our Jewish community is an attack on every New Yorker. We will catch the perpetrators of this assault.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Please contact the NYPD with any information. https://t.co/Z5eNveEOVW

— Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) February 13, 2022

The incident took place around 10:30 p.m., Yeshiva World reported. A second victim, 14, said he was approached by the same man a few blocks away but was able to escape unhurt after the man tried to punch him.

In both cases, a second man was seen filming the attack from inside the van.

Get the Forward delivered to your inbox. Sign up here to receive our essential morning briefing of American Jewish news and conversation, the afternoon’s top headlines and best reads, and a weekly letter from our editor-in-chief.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams issued a statement on Twitter Saturday, saying that “an attack on our Jewish community is an attack on every New Yorker. We will catch the perpetrators of this assault.”

Also recently, a crossing guard was removed from her post after allegedly spewing antisemitic slurs at parents and their children, including Rabbi Erica Gerson and her 9-year-old daughter, in January.

“She called us ‘nasty people, now we know why there’s no peace in the Middle East,’ and along with that, she cursed a kosher establishment,” Gerson told ABC7 New York. “The whole thing was totally surreal.”

NYPD statistics released earlier this month show a 275% increase in attacks targeting Jewish people —- 15 reported incidents — in the first month of 2022 compared to the previous January.

Antisemitic incidents accounted for 37% of hate crime incidents in New York City in 2021, an increase of more than 50% over the previous year. Police last year made 58 arrests in cases of anti-Jewish crimes.

In 2020, New York state led the nation with the most documented antisemitic incidents —- 336 of the 2,024 documented nationally —- according to an audit published by the Anti-Defamation League.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount