A group of four young orthodox Jewish students were victims of an antisemitic incident by a knife-wielding man on Thursday evening in Brooklyn Bridge Park in downtown Brooklyn.
The young Israelis were in the park at approximately midnight, when they were approached by a black male, who proceeded to shout antisemitic slurs and insults at them.He shouted at the Jewish men to get out of the park, and then he took out a knife and demanded that they give him money, the victims said.
NGO StopAntisemitism released a photo of the antisemitic perpetrator. The slurs and insults overheard are similar anti-Jewish language used by antisemites such as Kanye West.
NYPD have arrested this man after he began threatening a group of Orthodox Jewish men in Brooklyn, wielding a knife and yelling he was the Jewish one, not the men.
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) May 15, 2023
Such rhetoric is common amongst the hate group Black Hebrew Israelites & is propagated by the likes of Kanye West. pic.twitter.com/RdvWCeTxqW
The man shouted rhetoric commonly heard from Black Hebrew Israelites, claiming that he is the real Jew. Black Hebrew Israelites (BHI) are classified as a hate group by multiple advocacy groups, including StopAntisemitism. The Jersey City supermarket shooting in 2019 during which 6 people were killed was perpetrated by a man who identified as a member of BHI.
The victims called Shmira of Williamsburg, who arrived and called the police, who arrested the man. The charges were upgraded on Friday to include hate crime charges.