NEW YORK – Video shows a driver jumping a curb and allegedly trying to run over pedestrians on the grounds of a Brooklyn yeshiva on Wednesday morning.
Police say the driver made anti-Semitic statements while circling the building, and yeshiva officials say the driver nearly encountered three students and two rabbis before taking off.
No injuries were reported in this attack and the driver, identified as 58-year-old Asghar Ali, was caught. According to police, Ali faces numerous charges, including attempted murder as a hate crime.
Yeshiva officials said police spoke with students and staff and patrolled outside the building after the incident.
According to police, anti-Semitic crimes are on the rise, putting the community on extra alert.
Anti-Semitic attacks keep Jewish communities in Brooklyn on edge
According to NYPD data, there were 86 reported anti-Semitic hate crimes by this time last year. This year there have been 131 so far.
In an incident earlier this month Police say two Jewish boys, ages 11 and 13, were brutally beaten on a sidewalk in Williamsburg. Surveillance footage shows one of them being repeatedly kicked and punched.
Police now say a 12-year-old boy has been arrested in connection with the attack. He has been charged with assault as a hate crime and aggravated harassment as a hate crime.
“I’m glad justice will be done and I will feel safer,” said the Williamsburg resident.
She told CBS New York that she is keeping a closer eye on her children, especially her young daughter.
“I wouldn’t leave her alone on the street. And my older children, but they have no choice,” the mother said.
