In Brooklyn, an 18-year-old was charged with a hate crime against a Jewish man.
The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office announced on Thursday that an 18-year-old was indicted for committing a hate crime against a Jewish man in Brooklyn in April.
Logan Jones, of the New York City borough of Staten Island, is accused of assaulting a man dressed in traditional Hasidic garb on his way to a synagogue earlier this year and other related offences such as menacing and harassment.
According to the indictment, Jones and five other people approached the 21-year-old victim and his wife in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighbourhood on April 1, 2022, around 7:55 p.m., after Shabbat had begun, and began punching and kicking him as he fell to the ground.
The “unprovoked” assault was only stopped after the victim’s wife asked a bystander to call 911 and the group of assailants fled the scene.
Attacks against Jews in Brooklyn frequently occur on Shabbat, when religious Jews do not have access to cell phones, making it difficult to report the incidents immediately. In New York, the majority of antisemitic attacks are directed at ultra-Orthodox Jews, who can be identified by their clothing.
According to the Attorney’s Office, the victim in the April attack suffered severe head and body pain, abrasion to the cheek, and bruising to the face and mouth.
“This defendant allegedly assaulted an innocent man without warning or provocation solely because of his Jewish faith,” said District Attorney Eric Gonzalez. “Crimes against people based on their religion, race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation are a threat to everything we stand for here in Brooklyn.” We’ll try to hold the defendant accountable now.”
Jones was recently brought before a Brooklyn Supreme Court judge. The defendant’s bail was set at $30,000, and he was ordered to return to court on June 24, 2022.
The Anti-Defamation League was “shocked” by the attack’s “viciousness,” and New York Governor Kathy Hochul was “outraged.”
Also in New York City, police are investigating a suspected arson in Brooklyn last week as a hate crime after investigators discovered red swastikas spray-painted on a hallway wall in the charred building, according to police.
Antisemitic hate crimes in New York spiked earlier this year, with 56 reported incidents in February compared to 11 in the same month last year, but dropped slightly last month, with 25 anti-Jewish crimes in May compared to 36 in 2021. During Israel’s conflict with Gaza terror groups in May of last year, antisemitic incidents skyrocketed.
Hate crimes in New York City as a whole increased by 100% in 2021, with an increase in anti-Asian hate crimes as well.
In New York, Jews are targeted in hate crimes in far greater numbers than any other group. According to the NYPD, there were 67 confirmed anti-Jewish crimes between January and March this year, accounting for 47 percent of all hate crimes in the city.
In New York, hate crimes are rarely prosecuted. There were only 58 arrests out of 198 confirmed hate crimes against Jews in New York last year.
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