(JTA) — An unidentified man ran up to a group of Hasidic Jewish men and punched one in the head.
The victim, who like the others with whom he was standing was wearing a shtreimel, a fur hat worn by some Hasidic Jewish men, fell forward as the assailant fled.
At least two men chased the assailant and, according to the local NBC News affiliate, caught him, but could not find any police nearby and had to let him go. Friday evening’s incident was caught on surveillance camera.
It is the latest in a string of attacks on visibly Jewish men in the neighborhood in recent days.
Police are not investigating the Friday night incident as a hate crime, since the man did not use any anti-Semitic slurs or racial epithets.
The neighborhood children are afraid, a Jewish man told NBC.
Meanwhile, on Saturday morning, a Jewish man was attacked by two black males who punched him in the face as he walked to synagogue services in Crown Heights, according to the news website Crown Heights Info. The attackers fled after the victim began fighting back and grabbed one of their glasses.
The Anti-Defamation League on Sunday announced that it was offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the individual or individuals responsible for the two attacks.
Last week, two Orthodox Jewish boys were attacked in Brooklyn on the same day. And earlier this month , the NYPD circulated surveillance video of a group of preteens and teens that it says has carried out a series of anti-Semitic attacks in Brooklyn, including throwing a metal pipe through the window of a synagogue, pushing a 10-year-old Hasidic girl and knocking the hat off a 14-year-old Hasidic boy.
Last month, two Orthodox Jewish men were beaten in Brooklyn in two days.
“Anti-Semitism, or hate of any kind, has zero place in our communities,” Attorney General-Elect Letitia James said in a statement provided to ADL. “I am deeply disturbed by these recent acts of hate against New Yorkers, acts that must be thoroughly investigated and the perpetrators held to the fullest extent of the law. Today and every day, I stand shoulder to shoulder with the Jewish community and urge anyone with information about these heinous crimes to come forward.”
