Elderly Jewish man attacked outside of Brooklyn synagogue
A 67-year-old New Yorker was verbally and physically attacked outside of a Brooklyn synagogue, as antisemitic incidents in the US take a rise.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFUpdated: MAY 26, 2021 07:37A sign is seen at a locked gate to the closed Yeshivat Or Hatorah school amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in the Sheepshead Bay section of the Brooklyn borough of New York, US, October 6, 2020.(photo credit: REUTERS/SHANNON STAPLETON)
A 67-year-old man was punched in the face by a 20-year-old man named Hersham Ghonim in Brooklyn on Tuesday, who yelled at him, "F***ing Jews! I'm going to f*** you up," the New York Post reported.Ghonim attacked the elderly man as he was about to enter the Congregation Kerem Shlomo synagogue in Brooklyn's Sheepshead Bay neighborhood, the Post added.Police arrested Ghonim, charging him with "assault, hate crime, aggravated harassment, resisting arrest, criminal mischief and menacing," according to the report.The attack comes on the heels of a massive increase – 80% – in antisemitic attacks across the US and Europe in recent weeks due to the rising tensions between Israel and Hamas.Last week, Joseph Borgen, a 29-year-old Upper East Side resident wearing a kippah, was assaulted near 48th Street in Manhattan on Friday minutes after stepping off the subway on his way to a pro-Israel rally. The 23-year-old pro-Palestinian suspect, Waseem Awawdeh, allegedly punched, kicked and pepper-sprayed Borgen while yelling antisemitic slurs. Borgen was hospitalized.He said he felt “banged up and a little out of it,” while recovering at home on Saturday night. “I was covering my head hoping it would end soon. I was pepper-sprayed for a minute straight until the cops broke it up. For hours, my face felt like it was on fire and I couldn’t see.”On Monday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered the increase of police patrols in Jewish neighborhoods across the state following the rise is physical and verbal assaults.He noted that as a lifelong New Yorker, the post-Gaza violence in the US was the first time he’s second-guessed wearing a kippah in the city.According to an organization that advises American Jewish communities on security policy, one of the causes was steady disinformation being disseminated on social media since rocket fire and the Operation Guardian of the Walls began.The investigation is ongoing.Haley Cohen contributed to this report.
