By Carol Tannenhauser
Here is the latest on the instance of anti-Semitism that occurred on Saturday, April 2, at 7:20PM, in the vicinity of West End Avenue and West 86th Street.
At that time, “it was reported to police that six teens (ages 12-16) were approached by three male teens who stated that they wanted to fight them and further stated that, because they were Jewish, they wanted to get them,” an NYPD spokesperson told WSR. “The suspects brandished a knife, crowbar, and a sword, and followed them toward their residence before fleeing. There were no reported injuries as a result of this incident. The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force was notified and are investigating.”
On Monday, Captain Neil Zuber, commander of the 20th Precinct, told WSR that the “Hate Crimes Task Force is taking the case. We’re still trying to find video to help with the investigation. As of now, we just have the complainants’ report to go on. There were no incidents prior or following this report, so it at least seems to be isolated at this point.”
We’ll keep you posted as details unfold.
Thanks to Patch for first reporting.
This is very disturbing news. The UWS police precincts need to add many more street patrols, and likely a citizen patrol. There are more crimes on the UWS in the past several years.
Heartbreaking to read the neighborhood I grew up in UWS 100st WEA area is now a place of horror.
That’s a little exaggerated. This is the first crime in years. And no one was even injured.
It’s never isolated. Happening too often in this, my old neighborhood.
Thomas Wolfe was right…
You can’t go home again.
😢
This is a terrible story. That said, I have lived on the UWS for 45 years and never experienced an anti-Semitic incident. I would hate to think that people would conclude that the UWS is either unsafe or anti-Semitic. It’s just not the case. That said, hate crimes of all sorts are always with us. And they are exacerbated these days but the rending of the fabric of our civil society.
Zuber could have been a great Positive Therapist.
Hopefully people consider voting for the video cameras as part of the participatory voting process. Seems like a smart use of community funds. Crime begets crime.
Can’t some of those doorman buildings on WEA spring for a camera?
There are plenty of surveillance cameras in that area.
NYPD should release footage of these kids.
If we find these clowns let’s make an example of them. Make others scared to do this. I am a lifelong Democrat but I also believe in consequences and deterrents. I am really sick of this as are many others. I don’t know what it will take to get through to our woke neighbors.
Please bring back the police and street patrol. Please arrest kids for low level crimes or this will continue to escalate. Broken windows policy works.
Broken windows policing killed Eric Garner and institutionalized Adrien Schoolcraft.
A few high profile cases of bad policing is not a reason to neuter the police – we are losing a lot more lives due to police inaction than to police brutality. Do you not fly because a plane crashes occasionally?
I do think that there should be more accountability for bad cops but they also need to be able to do their jobs and put bad guys away. Saying “but Eric Garner and George Floyd!” Is almost as bad as Trumpers repeating Fox News talking points.
Citizens don’t take an oath, and we’re not talking about plane crashes we’re talking about lynchings.The crime hysteria is overblown and while it’s fine to show consideration for your neighborhood, you can’t let class based consternation keep us from remembering why bail laws, the federal court striking down stop and frisk, and the backlash against broken windows policing started to begin with.
You think the crime hysteria is overblown, I think the “all cops are evil” hysteria is overblown.
The plane crash analogy demonstrates that when extremely rare but high profile events happen, people assume they happen much more frequently than they actually do.
Anyone who walks around this neighborhood with their eyes open can see that crime is increasing and the quality of life has gone down. I am all for due process but I also belief there should be consequences for actions and this serves as a deterrent.
And believe it or not, since you brought up class, it is more the know-it-all upper class do-gooders who wanted progressive bail reform and the like, not those who are impacted by it – they want their neighborhoods to be safe, like we do.
Carlos, if there was a like button I would vote for your comment!
Well, I watched West Side Story last week, the new one that Spielberg made and Ariana DeBose won the Oscar for and this made me think of that…(great movie, by the way)
Maybe a dance battle and a couple of songs could have settled this situation instead of a fight?
Where’s Leonard Bernstein and Steven Sondheim when you need them??:)
Seriously though, is it time to bring back Stop and Frisk? We can’t have people walking around the neighborhood armed to the teeth and looking for trouble, can we?
“…three male teens…” is so inadequate as a physical description of the ALLEGED perpetrators, that one has to question the veracity of the report.
Say what we all know, WSR, and stop this exercise in soft bigotry.
Wow is this an awful thing to say.Excuse me but this happened to my neighbor’s kid. Who are you to dispute what happened? Our doorman confirmed that they entered the building with weapons that could have killed someone. The family was so scared they were hiding in the bathroom. It stated because these 3 thugs saw the Yamukles and stated screaming “Are you Jews, we want to get the Jews”. Is that enough for you. Pathetic comment
How does it feel when your stereotyping comment slaps you in the face because the racial determination of perpetrators you made simply because a crime committed turns out to to be just what most of us heard it as: a racist comment?
I assume you saw the surveillance photos? Feel stupid now?
WSR is directly quoting an NYPD spokesperson. You’d like the WSR on their own to just add in a racial description to fit your own bigoted assumptions?
Walking around with a sword is totally normal.
On a serious note – you can’t really hide it. Why weren’t the perpetrators stopped before they even get to the teens?
They probably came up through Riverside Park.
What New Yorker is going to stop someone walking around with a sword ?
New York Police Department
I had a similar (minus the weapons) experience over 50 years ago on a Saturday (Shabbat) afternoon walk on the Drive. But that was the one and only. This is sad, but those kids should not be punished for a hate crime (the wapons are a little weird) but rather this is an important teachable moment.
Not be punished? Perhaps wait until they escalate?
What happened on WEA and 86th was a hate crime/ Just replace Jews with Blacks or Asians every time you see Jews or Jewish and you’ll see more clearly. Here: “Brewer told the New York Jewish Week that the attackers spewed “horrific” antisemitic language at the group of Jewish teens. She added that the NYPD and the Hate Crimes Task Force responded to the incident. “It’s all very upsetting,” she said. “This has to stop. We have to do more in schools. It’s just horrible.”
Anti-semitic hate crimes in New York City have quadrupled this year: 81 have occurred as of March 27, a dramatic increase from 20 at the same point in 2021, according to according to ABC7 New York. Hate crimes in New York City as a whole rose 100% in 2021, which also saw an increase in anti-Asian hate crimes. The Anti-Defamation League is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of individuals responsible for the reported assault in Brooklyn. (A Hasidic Jew was beaten to the ground by 6 boys). In a press release, ADL NY/NJ Regional Director Scott Richman said he was “shocked at the viciousness of this incident.”