By Mica Soffer
Photos: Shmuel Amit
After the recent shocking rise in hate crimes in New York City, community and faith leaders gathered in Brooklyn Tuesday to denounce anti-Semitism and to announce a new initiative aimed at preventing bias attacks.
“There have been 111 anti-Semitic attacks this year in Brooklyn alone,” Jonathan Greenblatt of the Anti-Defamation League told the assembled elected officials and community leaders, including activist Devorah Halberstam and Rabbi Eli Cohen of the CHJCC representing Crown Heights.
“Jewish people and institutions are being targeted because they are Jewish, and that is an outrage,” he said.
Last weekend alone, there were at least four attacks on the Jewish community, including incidents of eggs being violently thrown at innocent victims in Boro Park.
“The anti-Jewish comments on the subway stations, on buildings, on cars, on vehicles, we’ve all witnessed this and we cannot remain silent,” said Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams.
“If we ignore what is happening to Jewish residents in the city, it is only a matter of time before those rocks and stones, terms of hate, will spill over,” to other religions, ethnicities and minority groups, the Borough President said.
The attacks are very serious, Rabbi Eli Cohen said, ranging from bruises and scratches to teeth being knocked out and serious injury.
“There’s a sense of intimidation that people are trying to affect by this kind of activity,” he said.
The ADL announced the increased budget and efforts of its education program that is being implemented in school curriculums throughout the city, which aims to educate children about other communities and on the importance of tolerance and inclusion.
The plan is to increase the number of schools in the program from 22 to 40, and will specifically target schools in Crown Heights and Williamsburg, they said.
Arresting the perpetrators of these attacks doesn’t always work, Greenblatt said, since many of the attacks are committed by juveniles who are released to their parents.
“To stop hate we can’t just arrest our way out of the problem,” he said. “To create change we must vaccinate our classrooms, immunize children against antisemitism.”
Always the same, we need results.
you are 1,000 PERCENT CORRECT !!!
Educate and punish parents of juvenile crime and it will stop, parents are responsible for their child crime if arrest can’t be made, made parents to pay the bill of the damages of victim’s health and property. Money always talk
Denouncing antisemitism at press conferences and at photo-opts (especially for politicians) is great. But where’s the action? Whats the plan? How many more of our people need to be beaten in the streets before real action is taken.
When will the community wake-up from its slumber? We are falling into the very same pattern as just prior to nazi-germany.
Wake-up folks!!!
The rest is commentary!
New venue, same old useless press conference…
Another photo opp, another day rubbing shoulders with people who don’t care, another day of “Shocking” attacks on innocent jews.
Your pictures are useless.
More cops, more punishments, more convictions, more results. You politicians are worthless.
Time to change the guards.
Yes time to change the guard.
Chabadnicks, first and foremost should speak about the Seven Noahide Laws.
There’s plenty of money in crime. It keeps the government busy hiring more cops building more jails. They hire the unemployed to work in jails, or as cops and then let the criminals go.
So people appreciate that their loved one got a job, and then vote for the politician, and the evil system continues.
Who benefits? The government. Who suffers? The ignorant or sheepish public!
Its unfortunate that the Rebbe voiced this issue, and then gave Chabad the solution way in advance, but we only wake up to the issue once it hit us in the face. And even then we don’t take our own Rebbe’s advice!! The ONLY course of action that will make a real, long lasting difference will be to develop Sheva-Mitzvos education specifically tailored for schools (“character development courses”), juvenile deliquent centers, politicians and any and all areas of need. How many more people have to get hurt, ch”v, before we start working seriously on this? If anyone wants to collaborate… Read more »
Single parent family households often results in older gang members filling the void of the absent father. As it is, 25% percent of the male kids in the local public schools don’t go graduate from high school. Medgar Evers is approx. 75% female for a reason. You can lead a horse to water, but can’t make it drink. Carrots can help, but sticks may be more effective for those who have lost hope and only respond to fear of punishment.
Duke of Kingsbrook
Spending money on education make work for some, but the thugs won’t listen to the kumbaya words of peace and love. For every dollar you spend on “education”, spend two on cops, cameras, drones, and sting operations. Fear of getting punished works better with hardened thugs who lack morality. The Jewish leaders in CH can only do so much with limited political power. I still struggle to understand why there are no public meetings to rally the people, no voting drive, no voter education. The CHJCC and the Jewish leaders should address why the public is not rallied, not mobilized… Read more »