A man in his early 20s reportedly yelled “free Palestine” at a young Jewish man in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, before adding “do you want to die?” and stabbing him.
The incident happened around 2 a.m. on Shabbat “near Eastern Parkway and Kingston Avenue, close to Chabad Headquarters,” wrote Rabbi Yaacov Behrman, who is tied to the movement’s administration.
The victim, who was hospitalized, is expected to recover, and residents detained the alleged attacker until police arrested him, according to Behrman. (JNS sought comment from the NYPD.)
“This is an extremely serious incident. The victim could have been killed,” Behrman wrote. “This act of hateful violence highlights the dangerous impact of antisemitic incitement and hate propagated by some local politicians and leaders in New York and across the United States.”
“Take this incident as a warning of the potential consequences if such hateful rhetoric continues. When hate and incitement against a group are preached, it invariably leads to violence,” he added.
Some outlets reported that the incident is being investigated as a hate crime and a reported a name of the alleged attacker. This is a developing story.