Reports
of hate crimes targeting the Jewish community are surging in the
subway, according to police statistics, a troubling trend that mirrors
what’s bubbling outside of the transit system.
As
of October 20, the NYPD has logged 42 hate-crime complaints involving
anti-Semitic acts in the subway this year, NYPD numbers show — a 162%
increase over the number of incidents reported through that date in
2018.
They
include a June 13 encounter at the Gates Avenue station in Brooklyn,
where a 26-year-old man allegedly yelled “Heil, Hitler!” and “All Jews
must die!” at a 33-year-old man before grabbing the victim’s phone out
of his shirt pocket and flinging it at an oncoming J train, according to
the Brooklyn district attorney’s office. The alleged assailant faces
multiple criminal charges, including a pair being prosecuted as hate
crimes.