A man has been charged with a hate crime for allegedly attacking Jewish men with cutting shears in New York City on Saturday.
Kareem Govan, 47, was charged with assault in the second degree as a hate crime, a felony, the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office said on Monday.
The NYPD said the suspect approached a group of men on Saturday afternoon, during Shabbat, "with metal cutting shears" in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, the home base of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement.
"The individual threatened to stab the group of males and attacked a 47-year-old male as he attempted to flee, causing minor injuries," the NYPD told The Times of Israel.
The victim was treated on the scene, the NYPD said.
Rabbi Yaacov Behrman, a community organizer and Chabad spokesperson, shared a video of the incident on X.
The footage showed a man approaching the group from behind, lunging over the head of one man, and stabbing at the face of another, who fell to the pavement.
Behrman told The Times of Israel that the targets of the attack were all Jewish.
Govan was not initially charged with a hate crime. The NYPD said on Sunday that he had been charged with seven counts including assault, menacing, and harassment. The Brooklyn District Attorney’s office confirmed Monday that the top count was now the hate crime charge.
The attack was the latest in a series of antisemitic incidents reported in New York City in recent days.
Jews are targeted in hate crimes more often than any group in New York City, according to NYPD data. Last year, Jews were targeted in 345 incidents, more than all other groups combined, as antisemitic crimes surged following the October 7, 2023, Hamas
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...attack on Israel.
There were 18 antisemitic hate crimes reported to police in January, a decrease from the same month last year.
The figures are preliminary and subject to change if, for example, an incident that had initially appeared antisemitic turns out to have been motivated by other factors.
An apparently mentally unstable, antisemitic man who attacked a Lubavitcher man in Crown Heights on Shabbos was charged Sunday with hate crimes, Shomrim tells Belaaz.
Kareem Govan, 47, was initially charged with assault, menacing and harassment, after being arrested for lunging at a Jewish father who was walking with his son in the area of Union Street and Troy Avenue with a pair of shears. The father suffered minor injuries to his ear.
On Sunday, the District Attorney, in collaboration with the NYPD’s Hate Crime Task Force, determined that his charges be upgraded to include his antisemitic motivations.
Govan uploaded a video to Youtube 10 months ago of himself walking through Crown Heights, speaking “In the name of Alla-h” and using other Muslim expressions, as he apologized for assaulting a “Muslim brother.” He also confesses to having been in jail for assault in the past. However, 8 months ago, he uploaded another video where he professes Christian beliefs.
His videos contain evidence of mental instability,
| …a nutter? Then it’s Page 3: Non-WoT… |
Rabbi Yaacov Berhman, a Crown Heights askan, wrote on social media: “A father was walking with his son this Shabbos around Union and Troy, in Crown Heights, when someone attacked him with scissors, allegedly attempting to cut his ear off. The father suffered minor cuts but will be okay.
“[Police] immediately responded and apprehended the perp, who was later transferred to the hospital after appearing unstable. The perp is under arrest and facing felony charges. It’s unacceptable for such things to happen in broad daylight on a busy street.”
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