The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force is now investigating an assault of a teenager at an Orthodox synagogue on Main Street in Kew Gardens Hills in broad daylight on Saturday, Oct. 5.
Police from the 107th Precinct in Fresh Meadows reported that the 19-year-old victim was dressed in traditional Jewish attire in front of Congregation B’nai Abraham of EF at 75-03 Main Street just after 2:30 p.m. A stranger approached the young man and punched him in the face with a closed fist in an unprovoked attack and fled the scene in an unknown direction, police said on Tuesday. The victim refused medical attention at the crime scene.
An NYPD spokesman could not say if any words were spoken between the two men before the assailant threw the sucker punch. The investigation by the Hate Crimes Task Force remains ongoing.
The NYPD released surveillance footage that shows the suspect smoking as he approached the building. He wore a black baseball cap backward, a gray t-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers and he had a black tote bag slung over his shoulder.
Anyone with information regarding this hate crime assault investigation is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org or on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are kept confidential.
Through Oct. 6, the 107th Precinct has reported seven hate crimes so far in 2024, 14 fewer than the 24 reported at the same point last year, a decline of 66.7%, according to the most recent CompStat report.
The attack occurred two days before the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel. A report released by the Anti-Defamation League on Monday shows that antisemitic attacks across the U.S. are up 200% in the year since the invasion, with more than 10,000 attacks nationwide, while NYPD data released on Tuesday shows that Jews have been targeted in 55% of hate crimes across the five boroughs so far this year, an increase of 14%.
The American Jewish Committee recognizes that the actual number of incidents is likely greater, as hate crimes are widely underreported across the nation. Despite Jews only accounting for 2% of the U.S. population, the community was the target of 68% of religiously motivated hate crimes committed in 2023.
“As the Jewish community is still reeling from Hamas’ brutal attack against Israelis on October 7, we are simultaneously contending with an earth-shattering increase in antisemitic violence,” AJC CEO Ted Deutch said late last month. “The worst part of this new reality is that young Jews are increasingly on the receiving end of this antisemitic hate, according to AJC’s State of Antisemitism in America 2023 Report. It’s unacceptable that in America of all places, there are nearly five antisemitic hate crimes on average per day.”
