Israeli lecturer hospitalized after antisemitic assault in New York

Israeli educator was physically assaulted while walking to a restaurant in Manhattan after the assailant demanded to know if he was Jewish.

By World Israel News Staff

An Israeli educator visiting the United States was brutally beaten in an antisemitic assault after his assailant spotted his yarmulke.

The attack occurred Monday in Midtown Manhattan when Rami Glickstein, a 58-year-old resident of the town of Ofra, north of Jerusalem, was walking toward the Mr. Broadway kosher restaurant.

As he walked down the street, Glickstein was accosted by a man who pointed to Glickstein’s yarmulke.

“Tell me what your religion is,” the assailant demanded.

Glickstein walked away from the man, who then ran after Glickstein and grabbed his yarmulke, threw it on the ground, and spat on it.

When Glickstein reached down to pick up his yarmulke, the man beat Glickstein, punching him in the face.

The assailant then fled the scene on foot.

A number of passersby helped Glickstein reach the restaurant and call for an ambulance, which evacuated him to a local hospital for treatment.

Glickstein filed a complaint with police, who have yet to apprehend the assailant.

The Israeli consul general in New York City, Ofir Akunis, spoke with Glickstein and his wife following the attack.

“The attack is a direct result of the daily incitement worldwide, including in the United States, against Jews and Israel,” Akunis said after the conversation with Glickstein, alluding to New York City mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani’s refusal to condemn calls to “globalize the intifada,” without mentioning the candidate by name.

“Lies, verbal violence, calls to carry out another October 7 massacre, and blood libels that are spread without any restraint — such as the false blood libel about Gaza — influence many, some of whom do not hesitate to attack physically.”

“All US public leaders must immediately and forcefully condemn the attack and the calls for violence such as to ‘globalize the intifada.'”