A second suspect is behind bars in connection to an alleged beating of a Jewish man in Times Square in broad daylight.
Faisal Elezzi, 25, was charged with assault as a hate crime, menacing as a hate crime, and aggravated harassment as a hate crime, a spokesperson for the New York Police Department told the Washington Examiner. He is one of a handful of men sought by authorities after the assault.
Joseph Borgen, 29, was knocked to the ground, punched, struck with crutches, and blasted with pepper spray as he made his way to protest while wearing a yarmulke Thursday. The suspects were said to have hurled antisemitic slurs at Borgen during the attack.
ANTISEMITIC CRIMES SPIKE IN US IN WAKE OF ISRAEL-GAZA CONFLICT
“They proceeded to assault me, beat me, kick me, punch me hit me with crutches, hit me with flag poles,” Borgen said.
After the Thursday incident, Waseem Awawdeh, 23, was jailed as an alleged participant in the pummeling.
In all, 26 people were apprehended during the Manhattan demonstration as pro-Israel and Palestinian supporters clashed in a day of violence. Explosive devices were thrown in the area’s Diamond District, while Palestinian flags were visible in the background.
An apparent rise in antisemitic hate crimes followed the uptick in tensions between Israel and Hamas over the past week. A ceasefire in the region was announced after 4,000 rockets roiled the two foes.
As of Friday, a day after the ceasefire, 248 Palestinians had been killed, including 66 children and 39 women, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. Twelve Israelis had died by the time the fighting ended.
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Hamas, which was designated a terrorist organization by the United States in 1997, began firing rockets toward Israel earlier in May amid a tense situation that boiled over with a looming Israeli Supreme Court decision on whether to uphold the eviction of Palestinian families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah area in East Jerusalem.
