The NYPD is on a manhunt after a Jewish man’s face was slashed by an attacker outside a Flatbush Avenue Whole Foods store.
The victim, a Crown Heights resident in his late 30s, was walking past the store at 9:15 AM on Tuesday morning when the assailant approached, spewed antisemitic slurs, and attacked without warning. Bystanders rushed to help as the attacker fled, with Hatzalah medics later transporting the victim to the hospital in serious condition.
“The New York City Police Department is asking for the public’s assistance in identifying the individual depicted in the attached media in connection to an assault that occurred within the confines of the 88th Precinct,” a statement by the NYPD reads. “The unidentified individual cursed at the victim and slashed him in the face. The individual fled on foot in an unknown direction to parts unknown.”
Hate crimes against Jewish New Yorkers hit alarming levels in 2023, making up 65% of the city’s felony bias incidents, State Comptroller DiNapoli reported in August. The numbers were equally troubling statewide, with attacks targeting Jewish residents comprising 44% of all hate crimes and dominating religious-based incidents at 88%.
Meanwhile, a video of Jewish customers being harassed at a Brooklyn cafe is making headlines.
In the video captured at Almah Café in Crown Heights, a man wearing a pink sweatshirt confronted patrons at the kosher establishment on 87 Utica Avenue. Things turned ugly when he approached a father dining with his baby near the entrance, declaring “Jewish people are evil” and “You are killing babies,” while blaming local Jews for Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza.
The man’s tirade escalated as he defended Hamas and Hezbollah, referring to their terrorists as “human beings” and claiming, “You guys killed millions of people.” He also took aim at the kosher establishment, demanding to know why there was “a Jewish-owned store in a Black neighborhood?!”
His rant also included bizarre claims, alleging that the Jewish people assassinated President John F. Kennedy and declaring that “Hitler was onto something.””
