Assailant wanted in antisemitic attack in Crown Heights: NYPD

BROOKLYN, N.Y. (PIX11) -- A Brooklyn man was sucker punched and beaten for being Jewish on the first night of Hanukah.

Police are investigating the brutal assault as a hate crime, and it is unfortunately part of a wave of incidents over the last couple of months.

"I was facing this way, and the guy punched me from behind and shoved me," said Joshua Merenfeld of Crown Heights walking reporters around the yard of his apartment building. "We ended up over here, with him standing over top of me, beating the (expletive) out of me."

Merenfeld had just stepped out of his building to smoke a cigarette at around 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.  He was dressed in traditional Jewish garments and police are seeking a man in connection with what authorities are investigating as a hate crime.

"I have bruises all over my body, on my face, and he used a bunch of antisemitic terminology and profanities," he said.

Merenfeld lives along this predominantly Jewish section of Crown Heights where currently there is plenty of police presence near the many Hebrew schools and synagogues.

It has been a necessary precaution since the Oct. 7, terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel.

"The numbers don't lie," Mayor Eric Adams said Friday. "We have a 250 % increase in ethnically motivated hate crimes in the city over the past two months."

Adams said much of that represents attacks and vandalism targeting the Jewish community, although Muslims and Sikhs are also feeling the hate.

Adams gathered with a group of religious leaders Friday morning to make a pledge and a promise.

"Those who commit these evil acts will be brought to justice," he said. "No New Yorkers should ever be targeted because of who they are and what they believe."

Back in Brooklyn, Merenfeld said he is speaking out because his attacker needs to be caught.

"This didn't happen at 12 o'clock at night in a back alley somewhere," he explained. "This happened right in front of a well-lit building on Eastern Parkway at like 7 o'clock. This is a dangerous person."

Submit tips to police by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), visiting crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, downloading the NYPD Crime Stoppers mobile app, or texting 274637 (CRIMES) then entering TIP577. Spanish-speaking callers are asked to dial 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).