Orthodox Jew hospitalized after Brooklyn beating, witnessed by 5-year-old son

Police are searching for the perpetrators, who assaulted the man in his car in front of his child.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

A religious Jew was hospitalized Wednesday after taking a beating in his parked car in a heavily Orthodox section of Brooklyn, New York, witnessed by his young son.

According to a Yeshiva World News report of the attack, the victim was named as Yossy Hershkop, a healthcare manager and well-known community activist. He was with his five-year-old boy on a side street when the afternoon attack occurred.

In asking for help in finding the perpetrators, the Crown Heights chapter of Shomrim, a Jewish security organization, released footage of the attack. Three men can be seen standing at the driver’s window of a dark sedan, and two of them start hitting Hershkop.

In the beginning, it seems that the driver is fighting back from his seated position, as the assailants jump back a few times, but then the pair can be seen raining blows for a few seconds on their victim.

Two other men walk across the street toward the fracas and just stand there watching before the attackers turn away, get into a silver-colored car a few feet away, and drive off. The other men walk away.

Hershkop is currently in stable condition, with injuries to his face.

State and city officials and fellow activists reacted with sorrow and anger to the attack.

“I am stunned & outraged,” tweeted Chaskel Bennett, a fellow community activist and member of the Board of Trustees of Agudath Israel.

“Yossy is truly one of the good guys. A bridge builder to the Black community & a respected activist who does wonderful communal work. We are sick & tired of seeing this type of violence repeated over & over on Jewish victims. Condemnations aren’t enough.”

New York State Senator Zellnor Myrie wrote in response, “Absolutely heartbreaking & unacceptable to hear @yossy770  was assaulted. We delivered food to NYCHA tenants at the height of COVID-19 together & have co-sponsored anti-violence events in the district. He is a real leader.”

New York City Council member Rita Joseph, a black representative of the district that includes Crown Heights, condemned the attack as well.

“The perpetrators of this violence MUST face justice: this cannot stand. Praying for the family of @yossi 770,” she tweeted.

There have been numerous attacks recently on visibly Jewish men in New York City, which has seen antisemitic assaults skyrocket over the last year. In a span of one week in May, one man was attacked while walking with his children in Williamsburg, and another was also assaulted in Crown Heights.

In a third case, a young man was punched by two teenaged assailants while walking on a Flatbush street after he refused to say “Free Palestine.” The two were arrested in June and charged with third-degree assault as a hate crime.