A hate crimes case has been filed against an individual accused of stabbing a member of the Jewish community in Brooklyn, reported to be near the central hub of the Chabad Hasidic Movement. The accused, Vincent Sumpter, age 22, is alleged to have yelled ‘Free Palestine’ and questioned the victim’s desire to live prior to the assault on a Sabbath morning near the Eastern Parkway-Kingston Avenue junction in the Crown Heights district. The stated location operates as both the global base of operations for Chabad and a frequent commune area for Orthodox Jews. As described in a police report, Sumpter is currently facing six hate crime charges and eight felonies, including assault, based on hate-related motivations.
Rabbi Yaacov Behrman, serving in an official spokesperson role for Chabad, documented the occurrence, placing the incident’s time at roughly 2 a.m. on Saturday. The assaulted individual, a recognized member of the Chabad society, was immediately rushed to a medical facility for treatment. Reportedly, he is on a recovery path and the expectation is for his discharge from hospital care within the scope of two days, shared Behrman in a public statement disclosed on X. Behrman goes on to credit bystanders for apprehending the perpetrator, keeping him constrained until law enforcement officers arrived to execute an official arrest.
The assault survivor, identified as Yechiel Dabrowskin, communicated with the Israeli’s Kan television network. Dabrowskin gave an account of the incident while receiving inpatient treatment at the hospital. He stated how he and his peers were attending a Sabbath gathering, when they became aware of a potentially threatening presence towards children. Dabrowskin recounted how he asked the man to leave the scene, however, this person took out a small knife, as per Dabrowskin’s statement.
Dabrowskin went on to disclose that he was stabbed in proximity to his heart, a mere four centimeters off mark and subsequently needed surgical intervention. Dabrowskin, a student at local yeshiva and an Israeli national residing in Crown Heights, gained monetary support through an online donation campaign launched following his assault. The fundraiser gathered upwards of $20,000 in a single day after the attack.
Reacting to the incident, the UJA-Federation of New York expressed its dismay and revulsion, referring to the assault as a pointless act of hate. Likewise, the Anti-Defamation League confirmed its engagement with the responsible law enforcement bodies in regards to the incident. Such assaults have stoked a heated discourse linked to the pro-Palestinian sentiments being echoed across New York City following significant events in the Middle East.
Behrman, among others, attributed this particular assault to the currently prevalent pro-Palestinian sentiment in the city, which started around the time when the conflict between Hamas and Israel escalated in Gaza, beginning on October 7. He cautioned in his statement that such instances should act as a warning of the probable repercussions of continuing this hate-filled discourse. In his opinion, when hate speech and incitement are directed towards any group, they inevitably lead to violent outcomes.
The connection between the assault and recent trends in the city was also drawn by Mark Treyger, the executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York. He expressed concern about the worrying escalation of the current atmosphere and called for an outcry from every New Yorker, emphasizing that it constituted an attack on all of them. He also underscored that the hateful and shocking attack on a Jewish youth in Brooklyn simply due to his identity should not be looked at in isolation.
In the aftermath of the October 7 conflict between Hamas and Israel, New York City has seen a surge in antisemitic incidents. The police have received hundreds of reports over the course of the preceding ten months. Noteworthy is the month of July, which saw a three-fold increase in the number of antisemitic incidents reported, with a total of 30 instances. This is in stark contrast to the same month of the previous year, which observed a total of 10 reported incidents.
Jews have notably been the most targeted demographic in the hate crimes reported over the past year, experiencing more hate crimes than any other group almost every month. Several instances have followed the October 7 skirmishes and are currently being investigated by relevant judicial bodies.
One such case recently under investigation involves a suspect allegedly assaulting a Jewish Israeli near Times Square while spewing antisemitic slurs. The incident is reported to have occurred in the middle of October. Another case from April involves an individual now faced with various hate crime charges. He is accused of directing his vehicle towards Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn, posing a direct threat to their safety.