Jewish community ‘terrified’ after rash of anti-Semitic attacks in Brooklyn
By Jim Dolan
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NEW YORK (WABC) — NYPD’s commissioner made a special trip to Brooklyn Monday night to reassure members of the Jewish community that they’re safe amid a rash of anti-Semitic attacks in the area.
Williamsburg is a family neighborhood and next week the children, many of them from the Hasidic community, will be headed back to school. That left some parents terrified.
Residents say they are afraid just to even walk out on the street, fearing they will be a target because they are Jewish.
Twice last Sunday, Jewish men were targeted on the streets with a fire extinguisher, one of them was assaulted after being sprayed.
A Jewish man was also assaulted in a separate incident on Monday.
The NYPD isn’t always so quick to identify an attack as a hate crime, but they had no problem in this case.
“It is believed these victims were targeted because they were Jewish,” NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said.
Sewell came to Williamsburg Monday night to announce arrests in both of those cases, but some in the community said an arrest isn’t enough.
“Compassion cannot go without justice,” Rabbi Sam Stern said.
Some in the community, as so many have in recent months, are railing against judges who have let repeat offenders go free.
The person arrested for Monday’s assault has a lengthy criminal record.
The person arrested for the fire extinguisher assaults is just 14 years old.
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