Mayor Eric Adams Sounds Off On Recent Antisemitic Attacks: 'We Won't Let This Vicious Hatred Go Unanswered In Our City'
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating several antisemitic incidents that happened over the weekend.
New footage released Sunday night shows the suspects police are looking for in two cases in Flatbush, Brooklyn.
CBS2's Lisa Rozner spoke with some residents who said the suspects were taking videos of the targeted victims.
READ MORE: NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force Investigating Antisemitic Attack And Vandalism In Brooklyn
Surveillance video taken Friday at around 11:35 p.m. on Avenue L near East 32nd Street shows someone in a hoodie menacing a 22-year-old Jewish man before police say the suspect slapped him in the face, knocking off his yarmulke.
The suspect then ran back into a grey mini-van. Flatbush Shomrim safety patrol said the driver was taking video of the whole thing.
"And they were laughing the whole time," coordinator Bob Moskowitz said.
But now, clear video of the two suspects and their vehicle has been released by the NYPD.
The Flatbush Shomrim coordinator says about 15 minutes after the first incident the suspects pulled into a gas station at Nostrand Avenue and Kings Highway. The coordinator said while they were getting gas they also targeted a 14-year-old walking by who was recognizably Orthodox Jewish.
"As soon as they saw it, right away one of them came running again with the phone," Moskowitz said. "Started talking to him and threatening him, you know, with a threatening voice and started chasing him. They ran halfway across into the intersection in Kings Highway and then they let him go, but the kid was petrified."
@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.
— Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) February 13, 2022
Please contact the NYPD with any information. https://t.co/Z5eNveEOVW
Mayor Eric Adams tweeted, in part, "Make no mistake, an attack on our Jewish community is an attack on every New Yorker. We will catch the perpetrators of this assault."
He also called antisemitic graffiti left Saturday night on the window of a Jewish-owned dental lab in Forest Hills, Queens "Outrageous."
Rabbi Ashie Schrier said he called authorities after he noticed the scrawling of an expletive next to the word "Jews" on Harrow Street.
It was just after 7 p.m. and he was with his 6-year-old son.
"Something just caught my eye and I looked over and was extremely disappointed in what I saw. My son, who is 6, who recently learned how to read, started asking me some new questions. I was just explaining, unfortunately, there's a lot of hate out there," Schreier said. "Our job is to fight that hate with the love."
READ MORE: 15-Year-Old Boy Facing Assault, Hate Crime Charges In Alleged Antisemitic Attack In Brooklyn
The dental lab owner told CBS2 someone was working inside and the lights were on when it happened, but that person did not see the incident.
Adams took to Twitter and said, "We won't let this vicious hatred go unanswered in our city."
The Anti-Defamation League tracks antisemitic incidents nationwide.
"We responded to incidents in 47 states and New York was number one across the country in terms of antisemitic incidents by far, and within New York, the vast majority of incidents take place in New York City," said Scott Richman, executive director of the ADL of New York & New Jersey.
"We can't let this be the norm because it's going to ... people saying, 'Oh, they're getting used to it.' We can't get used to any of this. Hatred is not something to get used to," Councilwoman Lynn Schulman said.
In the Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn assault last weekend, the ADL is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction. The director told CBS2 rewards are only issued in extreme cases and to give you an idea of how often this is happening, the ADL has offered rewards about nine times over the past few months.