Community and faith leaders in Brooklyn joined together Monday afternoon to call for an end to anti-Semitic attacks after two assaults on Jewish people in the borough last week.
The attacks, both last week in Crown Heights, are the latest in a string of alleged bias crimes in Bay Ridge, Crown Heights, East Flatbush and Midwood, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
City and state officials joined faith leaders at the site of one of the attacks to condemn the disturbing trend.
“In the year 2014, no one should be afraid to walk the streets because of their religion, because of the color of their skin, because of what they believe in,” said state Rep. Dov Hikind. “No one. It’s unacceptable.”
A day later, the group says, three young men attacked a 9-year-old boy in the same neighborhood, hitting him in the head.
It's not clear if the two attacks, or any other recent ones, are connected.
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Brooklyn Borough President Eric Allen said the attacks have to stop.
“We have an obligation as Brooklynites and as New Yorkers to state, ‘That will not happen in our city,’” he said.
The rally ended with attendees marching to the home of Joseph Raksin, the Brooklyn rabbi who was gunned down while walking to temple during a visit with family in a Miami suburb earlier this month.
The NYPD says its hate crimes unit is investigating the two recent attacks in Crown Heights.
