Video shows 13th anti-Semitic attack in NYC in two weeks

Last Updated Jan 2, 2020 7:48 AM EST

New surveillance video appears to show another anti-Semitic attack in New York City, at least the 13th since December 23. The footage shows a 22-year-old Hasidic Jewish man defending himself before a 24-year-old woman punched him in the neck.

One witness said the attacker yelled anti-Semitic slurs, CBS News correspondent Don Dahler reports. Two women were arrested in connection with the incident and one of them has been charged with assault. 

The attack, which happened in Williamsburg, a Brooklyn neighborhood, is being investigated as a hate crime.

“They took him and threw him down to the ground and broke his phone,” said Moses Weiser, a Williamsburg resident. “It’s unbelievable what’s going on. This is a shame.”

The incident came on the same day that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo visited Brooklyn in a show of support for the Jewish community there and directed police across the state to increase patrols in Orthodox neighborhoods.

“Everybody stands in solidarity with you,” Cuomo said. 

The NYPD on Wednesday released new surveillance video of another anti-Semitic attack in Brooklyn last week, which shows a group of people strike a 23-year-old Hasidic man over the head with a chair and punch him in the face. Police now believe the group may also be connected to an attack on a 56-year-old Hasidic man in the same neighborhood, which security cameras captured earlier that day.

The latest attack also comes on the heels of the stabbing that wounded five people at a Hanukkah gathering in Monsey, New York, last week. The family of one of the victims, 71-year-old Josef Neumann, said he will likely have permanent brain damage, and if he recovers, he could be partially paralyzed for the rest of his life.

The recent violence did not stop celebrations at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center or MetLife Stadium in New Jersey Wednesday, where more than 90,000 people, including New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, gathered to finish a seven-and-a half-year study of the Talmud, a vast collection of writings which discuss and guide Jewish law.

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