CNN
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A 63-year-old man was assaulted in what police are calling an antisemitic attack in New York’s Central Park on Wednesday, in response to the New York Police Department.
The man was strolling in the park when one other man in his mid-40’s allegedly ambushed him from behind, inflicting the older man to fall, chip his tooth and break his hand, police mentioned.
The suspect yelled antisemitic insults on the sufferer, in addition to “Kanye 2024,” earlier than fleeing on a bicycle with an hooked up trailer that had an indication studying “Hungry Disabled,” in response to police.
The suspect remains to be at giant as authorities are asking for the general public’s help in figuring out the attacker.
The sufferer is in secure situation, in response to native authorities.
The NYPD described the suspect as a person with mild complexion, final seen sporting a brown jacket, a multi-colored hat, beige pants and white sneakers with a bicycle carrying an assortment of things.
“Crimes like these have a ripple effect across communities and cause unique trauma on top of physical harm,” Scott Richman, the regional director of the Anti-Defamation League of New York/New Jersey, informed CNN.
Richman mentioned the attack is an instance of how rapper Kanye West’s antisemitic rhetoric has perpetuated violence and incited others to behave out. “When public figures with huge platforms fan the flames of antisemitism, people will copy it and begin to think it’s normal,” he mentioned.
Earlier this month, CNN reported that West, who legally modified his identify to Ye, was suspended on Twitter after he tweeted a picture of the Star of David with a swastika inside. The tweet adopted a sequence of antisemitic ramblings from West in current months and got here the identical day he gave an interview to far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones throughout which Ye expressed his love for Adolf Hitler.
Councilwoman Gayle A. Brewer, who represents all of Central Park, additionally condemned the attack in her district in an announcement to CNN, saying: “This kind of behavior is absolutely abhorrent. It’s horrific and there is no need for it.”
Councilman Eric Dinowitz, chairman of town council’s Jewish Caucus, echoed these sentiments to CNN. “I am deeply disturbed by this vile, yet predictable antisemitic attack in Central Park. Anti-Jewish attacks are rising at an alarming rate, fueled by hateful rhetoric and willful ignorance. These attacks on Jewish New Yorkers are not isolated incidents, but a pattern of attacks on an entire people,” he mentioned.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, antisemitic attacks reached an all-time high in the US final 12 months — up 34% from 2020.
The NYPD has seen an increase in overall hate crimes, led by a pointy improve in antisemitic incidents in November. The division reported 45 incidents final month, up from 20 incidents reported on November 2021, in response to NYPD statistics.
Earlier this month, New York police arrested a man accused of firing a BB gun at a Jewish father and son who have been out grocery procuring.
In a separate incident this month, a grand jury indicted two men – certainly one of whom is Jewish and a descendant of a Holocaust survivor – in reference to a web based risk final month to attack a synagogue in New York City.
“The upcoming holiday of Chanukah is a celebration of hope against insurmountable odds, and I ask that everyone take this opportunity to stand shoulder to shoulder against antisemitism, so that members of the Jewish Community can live with safety and dignity,” Dinowitz mentioned.