The NYPD’s hate crime unit is investigating a wave of ‘vile’ anti-semitic attacks on four synagogues in the Bronx over the weekend.
The carnage began when a suspect hurled large rocks at two synagogues, Chabad of Riverdale and Riverdale Jewish Center, at around 12:30am Friday, smashing windows and doors.
The next night the same suspect returned to cause more damage at the two Jewish houses of worship, and the Conservative Synagogue and Young Israel of Riverdale.
The attacks come amid spiraling anti-semitic violence that is at its highest rate in 40 years, and drew swift condemnation from Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.
In each case significant damage was done to the buildings, police said.
Surveillance cameras captured the perpetrators and on Sunday, Mayor de Blasio said the NYPD’s Hate Crimes Unit was closing in on a suspect.
‘The @NYPDHateCrimes task force has a solid lead on the vile acts of anti-Semitism in the Bronx and we will take swift action against the perpetrators. If you have any more information on this case, contact the NYPD right away,’ Mayor de Blasio Tweeted on Sunday.
The NYPD released images, above left and right, of the person suspected of hurling large rocks at four synagogues in The Bronx on Friday and Saturday
The Riverdale Jewish Center in The Bronx where a suspect hurled rocks, smashing windows and doors over two nights
The attacks drew swift condemnation from Mayor Bill de Blasio, who said the NYPD’s Hate Crimes Unit was close to identifying the suspect in a Tweet Sunday.
The NYPD were maintaining a heavy police presence at the sites on Sunday, The Algemeiner reported.
The suspect was described as a light-skinned African-American man in his 30s, approximately 5 foot 11 inches tall, and with a medium build.
Governor Andrew Cuomo called on the New York State Police Hate Crimes Task Force to be deployed to assist in the investigation.
‘We stand with Jewish New Yorkers – an essential part of the fabric of our state – as we do with all victims of bigotry, and I look forward to seeing this investigation resolved quickly,’ the governor said in a statement.
Several elected officials in New York issued a joint statement to blast the attack.
‘We condemn in the strongest possible terms the hate crimes and vandalism that are occurring in Riverdale,’ said Rep. Jamaal Bowman, State Sen. Alessandra Biaggi, State Assemblymember Jeffrey Dinowitz, and Councilmember Eric Dinowitz.
No one should be attacked or living in fear because of their race, religion, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. The threat towards synagogues and other Jewish institutions is real and we must treat these issues head on.’
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said it was ‘appalled’ by the attacks and for anyone with knowledge of the attacks to come forward.
‘This is a particularly troubling image for Jews because of their history,’ the group said.
In May, a report by the ADL found there had been more than 2,100 anti-semitic incidents around the US in 2019, the highest number since the group started tracking data in 1979.
It found New York had the highest rate of anti-semitic crimes of any state in the country.
More than half of the attacks recorded in New York City in 2019 took place in Brooklyn, the ADL report found.
A rash of attacks in 2020 were feared to be linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Jewish people had masks ripped off their faces and suffered verbal abuse in several recorded incidents.
At the time, the ADL’s Jonathan Greenblatt said many of the attacks were filmed and posted online, resulting in copycat incidents.
In December 2019, a mass shooting in Jersey City claimed the lives of four people, including detective Joseph Seals.
Francine Graham and David Anderson shot Seals at Bayview Cemetery, before driving to the JC Kosher Supermarket nearby where Mindy Ferencz, Moshe Deutsch and Douglas Miguel Rodriguez were all killed in a gunfight.
The suspects, who were also killed, had been planning the attacks for months, police later said.
