Antisemitic attacks rise in Brooklyn and violence targets pro-Israel teacher in Queens amid a 400% global surge post-October 7th.
On Saturday, three Jews were attacked in three separate antisemitic incidents in Flatbush, Brooklyn.
Although the incidents were separate, there appeared to be a pattern and might have been committed by members of the same group.
Two distinct attacks targeted Jewish men, with the assailants yelling “Free Palestine.”
A third incident showed a teenager being kicked and punched close to a local high school.
All three incidents were captured on security cameras and occurred around East 17th Street.
The NYPD, which is investigating the attacks, are treating them as suspected hate crimes.
Three teenagers attacked 3 separate Orthodox Jews walking in Flatbush New York today while screaming “free Palestine” during the attacks… pic.twitter.com/RJcbjG7aYn
— AG (@AGHamilton29) November 26, 2023
Earlier in the week, at Hillcrest High School in Jamaica Queens, students initiated a rampage after discovering that a teacher had attended a pro-Israel rally.
Hundreds of students planned the attack on a group chat, which led to the teacher having to hide to avoid being physically assaulted by a mob of students.
As they attempted to push their way forcibly into her classroom, they yelled, “Free Palestine” and demanded that the teacher “had to go.”
Cameras in the school showed a ripped-out water fountain and tiles that had been torn out of the bathroom wall.
The teacher, whose name was withheld but who identifies as Jewish, told The New York Post that she has taught for 23 years, 7 of them at Hillcrest.
“I have worked hard to be supportive of our entire student body and an advocate for our community, and was shaken to my core by the calls to violence against me that occurred online and outside my classroom last week,” she said. “No one should ever feel unsafe at school—students and teachers alike.”
These incidents are among many similar verbal and physical attacks against Jews in the weeks following the October 7th massacre in southern Israel and the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas.
According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), antisemitic incidents have increased 400% in that period.
Antisemitic violence and intimidation at Universities is skyrocketing, with Jewish students threatened with physical violence at institutions such as Cornell, Columbia and Tulane.
In France, antisemitic violence reached a new record with 1,500 incidents between October 7th and November 14th.