A Brooklyn man was arrested on Monday for stabbing a Jewish man after making anti-Jewish statements, according to the New York Police Department.
Twenty-three-year-old Armani Charles was charged with attempted assault, assault, and menacing with hate crime modifiers, and aggravated harassment for stabbing a Jewish man in a street altercation.
Charles had allegedly spouted antisemitic statements before stabbing the victim in the chest, according to the NYPD and footage published by Crown Heights Shmira. The attacker left the scene on foot.
The incident occurred outside Lubavitch Chabad headquarters, and according to the New York Post, the attacker had declared that he was “going to kill a Jew today.”
Chabad public relations official Yaacov Behrman said on X/Twitter last Wednesday that the assault was unprovoked, and the attacker had also said “F*** these Jews” and it would be acceptable if the Holocaust occurred today. The victim had to be hospitalized but was expected to recover.
“Hateful rhetoric always leads to violence. After losing friends in Australia on Sunday, it is painfully clear that the world is once again dangerous for Jews,” wrote Berhrman, referencing last Sunday’s Bondi Beach massacre.
New Yorkers suffer series of antisemitic incidents over Hanukkah
The American Jewish Committee denounced the incident as part of a series of antisemitic incidents that occurred during Hanukkah in New York City.
Several NYC community organizations, including the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council, NYC Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes, 67th Precinct Clergy Council, and Anti-Defamation League New York New Jersey, held a press conference last Thursday about the “brutal attacks that have shaken our community to the core over the last few days.”
ADL representative Rabbi Yisroel Kahan said that New York City leads the country in antisemitic incidents, according to the data tracked by the organization. Orthodox Jews were the chief victims of such attacks.
“I want to make it clear that these are not isolated incidents,” said Kahan. “These are part of a deeply disturbing pattern of antisemitic violence that we have been tracking over the last three years.”
An arrest was made last Thursday in last Monday’s assault of orthodox Jews on a NYC subway, according to Behrman. Xeryus Mack was reportedly charged with third-degree attempted assault, menacing, and aggravated harassment, reported ColLive. The two victims were Chabad rabbinical students, Behrman and Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon said on social media. One of the victims led a menorah lighting symbolizing the perseverance of the Jewish people, Behrman noted.
Danon shared footage of the student being choked and on the subway, saying that they had only attempted to share the light of Hanukkah when they were attacked.
US Transportation Department Secretary Sean Duffy said that the video of the incident was difficult to watch and urged NYC officials to protect citizens riding public transit.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams called the incident “despicable” and called for antisemitism to be “rooted out from the very fabric of our city.”