It’s been open season on Jews in the Big Apple.
Bigots have been emboldened to unleash ugly antisemitic attacks in the five boroughs, from hateful protests and vandalism to outright assaults — leaving the New York Jewish community rattled and worried about their safety, local leaders said.
“There are people who are doing that violence and harassment who seem to be emboldened by the public discussion, by lack of accountability,” said Oren Segal, senior vice president of Counter-Extremism and Intelligence with the Anti-Defamation League.
An antisemitic moron berated a Jewish woman at a West Village restaurant Saturday, telling her, ‘F–k you Jew.’ Max Towey/X
“But I think the most important thing that I’ve been seeing is that walking down the street, going to class, or celebrating a holiday, or just otherwise being visibly Jewish should not be an act of courage.”
Since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, Jewish people have been so vilified that Segal said the ADL has received reports of some so afraid that they have taken off their kippahs, or religious head coverings, and other visible symbols identifying their faith.
The Hannukah “festival of lights,” which began Sunday night, has also been marred by antisemitic violence across the globe, including in Australia, where two terrorists shot up a holiday celebration at Bondi Beach, killing 15 people and injuring dozens more.
“The days in which the Jewish community is celebrating or observing the holidays tends to be the times where they seem to be in most danger,” Segal noted.
“The fact that people have to have their head on a swivel when they are engaging in a public Hanukkah lighting or putting [a menorah] in their window, tells you a lot about the atmosphere in which the Jewish community finds itself,” he added.
“People are feeling vulnerable, and people are feeling scared,” Segal said. “And we also have to keep in mind … this is now the latest in a series of holidays that have been shattered by antisemitic violence.”
A pair of brutes assaulted a group of Jewish youngsters on the subway, with one victim choked by one of his attackers.
Just this week, a knife-wielding goon stabbed Brooklynite Elias Rosner, a member of the Lubavitch Hasidic community, Monday afternoon in Crown Heights, shouting, “I’m going to kill a Jew today.”
On Monday night, eight Jewish youngsters were heading back to Chabad Lubavitch headquarters in Crown Heights after a Hanukkah celebration in Union Square when they were attacked by a pair of brutes on the subway, according to disturbing video.
In another caught-on-video encounter, an unhinged patron at Mole Mexican Bar & Grill in the West Village unleashed a frightening verbal assault on a Jewish woman enjoying dinner with a friend Saturday night.
Elias Rosner, 35, was stabbed in near the heart by a knife-wielding nut during an antisemitic attack in Crown Heights. Gabriella Bass
Rosner shows his wound. Obtained by the NY Post
A menorah in Jackson Heights was vandalized, just one of the recent antisemitic incidents in the neighborhood. Courtesy of Rabbi Meir Pape
“You ugly f—ing Zionist. We will rid this country of f—ing you by all f—ing means,” the maniac yelled into the shaking woman’s face.
Earlier that day, Rabbi Meir Pape of the Jackson Heights Chabad discovered that a menorah in the neighborhood had been defaced following a series of incidents of antisemitic graffiti and vandalism in the area over the last year.
The spike in violence came on the heels of the attack on Israel by Hamas terrorists two years ago, which prompted a counteroffensive by the Jewish State that has enflamed passions — including on city college campuses, streets and subways.
Anti-Israeli sentiment has emboldened Big Apple bigots into a troubling rash of antisemitic incidents. Obtained by the NY Post
The NYPD is looking for this suspect in the stabbing of Elias Rosner in Crown Heights this week.
Now, Jewish New Yorkers find themselves looking over their shoulders in public — and leaders called on those in power to tamp down the hateful rhetoric.
“Words matter, and when Jews hear chants of, ‘Globalize intifada’ and ‘resistance by any means,’ and then see a spate of serious assaults and killings targeting our community, it absolutely puts fear into our community,” said Evan Bernstein, vice president of community relations for the Jewish Federations of North America.
Daniel S. Mariaschin, CEO of the B’nai B’rith organization, agreed, noting “there’s a trigger mechanism to these things,” with antisemitism fueled by public statements from pundits and influencers, and via social media.
“People who are in positions of responsibility need to mind their language and mind their words because words do matter,” he said.