Police are searching for a man who burst into a kosher bagel store in Queens and demanded that it take down its Israeli flags and close, or he’d ‘burn the building down,’ as violence continues to plague the city.
Surveillance footage, which does not include video, released Tuesday by the NYPD’s Hate Crime Task Force shows the suspect on November 10 entering Bagels & Co. on Union Turnpike and saying something that appears to startle two customers.
The man is accused of approaching a 26-year-old employee while filming with his phone, referring to Israeli flags the business displays outside, and saying, “Remove those Israeli flags and shut the business down, or I’ll burn the building down.’
The suspect faces aggravated harassment charges and police are offering a $3,500 reward to anyone with more information.
Police are searching for a man who burst into a kosher bagel store in Queens and demanded that it take down its Israeli flags and shut its business down or he’d ‘burn the building down’
Surveillance footage released Tuesday by the NYPD’s Hate Crime Task Force shows the suspect making the threat on November 10
The suspect faces aggravated harassment charges for his threat to Bagels & Co. on Union Turnpike
It comes amid a spike in hate crimes, specifically against Jewish and Asian people.
On October 26, a man in Brooklyn was captured on camera going on an aggressive anti-Semitic rant as a woman walked down the street.
Ring surveillance footage recorded the unidentified man in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn yelling hateful profanities at a woman: ‘Jewish b***h, the f**k outta here, the f**k outta here, you f**king Jewish b***h.’
He continues: ‘That’s why I wish Hitler was still here, murder your children, you and your husband.’
The camera is set above two doors semi-enclosed behind a staircase. The man is seen standing on the sidewalk during the day.
The family is off camera, and seems to catch his eye as he turns around and begins berating them. The disturbing video was tweeted by NY Scanner, an account that posts crowdsourced videos of crime and other wild scenes around New York City.
Earlier last month, a 23-year-old Orthodox Jewish man was shot in the head with a BB gun in a drive-by by three men in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn.
An unidentified man went on an disturbing anti-Semitic rant in Flatbush, Brooklyn
Surveillance footage released by the NYPD shows the man dressed in traditional Orthodox Jewish clothing walking down a street when he was approached by his three attackers in a dark-colored Hyundai Sonata with silver wheels.
One of the three men in the car fired an unknown projectile at the victim, believed to be a BB gun, which left him with a wound on the side of his head, officials reported.
The street surveillance footage obtained by the NYPD shows the victim fall to the ground after being hit by the projectile. The victim was taken to a nearby hospital and was released shortly after.
Anti-Semitic crimes have soared since spring following the conflict between Israel and Gaza, in which 243 Palestinians were killed, including more than 100 women and children, and 12 people died in Israel.
That conflict, which ended with a ceasefire on May 21, also was blamed for a 75% spike in anti-Semitic attacks across the US. The Anti-Defamation League, which tracks anti-Semitic attacks, says 127 hate attacks on Jews were reported in the two weeks before the conflict, with 222 reported during the fortnight of clashes between Israel and Gaza.
Earlier last month, a 23-year-old Orthodox Jewish man was shot in the head with a BB gun in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn
In one such attack, a Kippah-wearing Jewish man was assaulted by a group of Palestinian protesters near Times Square. Joseph Borgen was beaten by a group of five men yelling anti-Semitic epithets. He had been on his way to a pro-Israel demonstration on May 28th.
Video of the assault showed Borgen was left defenseless on the ground as he was battered by the angry mob outside of 1604 Broadway.
Waseem Awawdeh, 23, was the first man arrested over the violent assault and was charged with assault as a hate crime, gang assault, menacing, aggravated harassment as a hate crime and criminal possession of a weapon, police said.
When he appeared in court prosecutors say he told a jailer: ‘If I could do it again, I would do it again. I have no problem doing it again.’
Meanwhile, in June, a group of pro-Palestinian protestors burned an Israeli flag outside of Rockefeller Center as they marched through the streets of midtown Manhattan while demonstrating against businesses with ties to Israel.
The group carrying Palestinian flags and signs saying, ‘None of us are free until all of are free,’ ‘Imagine justice,’ and ‘We will free Palestine within our lifetime.’ They were also filmed chanting: ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’.’ Some critics claim that line is anti-Semitic because it appears to call for the destruction of Israel.
Joseph Borgen, 29, spoke to DailyMail.com one day after he was left bruised and battered by a group of pro-Palestinian men in Midtown Manhattan in May
A group of pro-Palestine protestors burned an Israeli flag outside of Rockefeller Center in June
The pro-Palestine protesters passed by a restaurant where a couple was enjoying dinner, and were seen waving flags at them
When the group got to Rockefeller Center, the protesters were seen tearing apart an Israeli flag and setting it on fire, and stomping on it, yelling ‘Allahu Akbar’. One woman was even filmed kneeling down and spraying more accelerant onto the flag in an apparent attempt to get it to burn faster.
Then, when they passed the BlackRock offices on 52nd Street, two men sprayed fake blood to symbolize the blood they claim the business has on its hands.
BlackRock, an asset managements firm, has significant investments in US defense firm Lockheed Martin, which supplies weapons technology to the state of Israel.
New York City has seen a shocking 103% increase in hate crimes from September 2020 to September of this year, the most recent data the Hate Crime Task Force has released. In 2020, NYPD reported 209 hate crimes through September with 424 hate crimes committed in the same time period this year.
The Jewish population in the city has seen hate crimes against their community spike 50%. Last year, NYPD recorded 98 hate crimes against Jewish people through September while they reported 147 hate crimes against Jews in 2021 for the same time period.
After hate crimes that involved race, which made up the majority of the cases, 20% involved sexual orientation bias, 13.3% were biases related to religion, 2.7% involved gender identity bias (which means attacks against transgender and non-binary people), 1.4% involved disability bias, and 0.7% involved gender bias.
Joel Mangal, 38, tossed a Molotov cocktail into a Brooklyn bodega after an argument on October 30 and set off an inferno that nearly killed the workers inside
Despite this shocking scene, only one person was injured and suffered non-life-threatening injuries
The unidentified suspect’s threats to Bagels & Co. offer a stark parallel to another recent crime, in which a man tossed a Molotov cocktail into a Brooklyn bodega after an argument on October 30 and set off an inferno that nearly killed the workers inside.
Joel Mangal, 38, threw the explosive device inside the store after a verbal dispute with bodega employees, police told DailyMail.com at the time.
Video released by police showed Mangal exiting the Nostrand Avenue deli and then putting what appeared to be two Molotov cocktails on the sidewalk. He lit one and threw it into the bodega, setting off a fireball that engulfed the store, the video shows. He was about to throw the second before it was knocked out of his hand by a witness.
The deli workers escaped the flames as Mangal fled on foot toward the Fulton Street and Nostrand Avenue subway station. One of the employees chased after Mangal but was slashed on his right hand with a pocket knife by the arsonist, cops said.
One of the deli workers told CBS NewYork that the suspect was threatening ‘I’m gonna kill you.’
‘He was threatening, “I’m gonna kill you. I’m gonna burn the store. I’m going to burn the building down,“’ Mohamed Abdulla told CBS.
Firefighters, shorthanded from the fallout over Mayor Bill de Blasio’s vaccine mandate, quickly arrived to put out the flames. One person at the scene needed provided medical treatment, officials said.
Overall crime in New York City continues to steadily grow
‘Fortunately, there was no loss of life here,’ said FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro. ‘The investigative work from the Explosives and Arson Task Force comprised of our Fire Marshals, the NYPD, and ATF, led to the timely arrest of this suspect who threatened the safety of our communities by using such a cruel and destructive device.’
Mangal was charged with three counts of arson, two counts of assault, attempted assault reckless endangerment, criminal possession of a weapon and criminal mischief.
Meanwhile, New York City also continues to see a surge in other types of violent crime. Through November 7, the police department’s most recent data, felony assaults rose 8 percent from last year, to 18,898, and grand larcenies increased 3.7 percent, to 30,768.
Murders dropped slightly, to 399 so far this year from last year’s level of 407. Rapes are up 2.1 percent on the year, at 1,241, and robberies rose 1.6 percent to 10,996.
Source: Daily Mail
