Lee Zeldin Visits Crown Heights; Denounces Anti-Semitism

heights the streets of new york sitting in our state in this country belong to law-abiding americans we've reached a point where people who might be wearing a yarmulke or maybe they're asian maybe they're a sikh camp driver are being targeted with raw violent hate innocent new yorkers we should be free to walk our streets and our subways without fear of being attacked by neighbors we're not just reading about we're not just hearing stories of one violent anti-semitic attack in a year we're seeing with our own eyes when we wake up on a monday morning the multiple attacks that have taken place since the last time we got caught off with our last update people of all walks of life right now standing up to fight back to make sure that these streets belong to law-abiding new yorkers that they belong to law enforcement seeking solely to protect those law-abiding new yorkers that religious freedom is protected and defended and honored and that our kids and our kids are able to walk our streets ride their bicycles be with their families living in a community that is safer than ever that's not where we are heading right now doe hyken has been working on his organization americans against anti-semitism for years they've been leaders courageously standing up for what is right making sure that we are educating other people who may not even be aware of anti-semitism still existing in many forms [Music] in some respect we might see it on our streets in another respect we might see it in our schools we might see it in government and delve hiking has courageously been fighting against anti-semitism everywhere whenever we see anti-semitism in any form we must speak up always to identify it confront it and crush it see when you're silent about it what ends up happening is you end up elevating it it ends up being embraced it ends up being empowered people who advance anti-semitism if they do not meet resistance will continue to push forward with their hate to recruit others to be part of promoting anti-semitic ideals and pursuits on our streets in our classrooms and in government josie hirschkopf over the course of this summer was traveling with his five-year-old [Music] when a group of people came up to his vehicle sought to get cash from him it ended up attacking him all caught on video and the worst part was it was right in front of his five-year-old this isn't just one incident but even if it was it's one incident too many but here's the problem it's happening again and again and again and only one incident has resulted in more than one day in prison think about that new york is setting new highs in anti-semitic hate our country is experiencing rising anti-semitic hate and despite those new highs in new york only one case resulted in a single person spending more than one day in prison the videos that we've seen aren't threats of attack which is bad enough but this is attacks that put people in a hospital like rabbi leftwich on a friday in crown heights as he was getting ready to travel to great neck for siobhan service he was attacked physically where he was sent to a hospital with his injuries instead of making it to great neck for those services and you know what that wasn't just the one attack of the week there were two more attacks in that week alone right here in brooklyn according to americans against anti-semitism's report since 2018 118 adults have been arrested for anti-semitic hate drives only one has served even a single day in prison and that only covers the incidents by the way covered by a police report think of all of the other anti-semitic attacks where maybe there wasn't a police report in 2021 new york state led the entire nation anti-semitic incidents with 416. that's up 24 from 2020. through the first three months of 2022 new york city experienced a 76 rise in hate crimes year over year attacks on jews tripled during that time so far this year the nypd hate crimes task force has made 44 arrests related to these attacks that's already 11 more than all of 2021 when we call for action and government part of the resistance we meet is that there's no data there's no statistics to back up our calls for action we need district attorneys doing their job we need judges all doing their job we need cashless bail overhauled even new york city mayor eric adams is calling for a dangerousness standard to be added to the law there are things that we could do across the board to make our streets more safe rabbi lefkowitz was attacked in crown heights on a friday afternoon in may being kicked and punched in the face his attacker yelled the nazis should have killed you jews the nazis should have killed you jews sometimes when there's an attack on somebody who's jewish the response is well that doesn't mean it's anti-semitic and how often is it the more and more and more that we learn of the facts of these individual cases we find out that is exactly what it is and yet the jewish people are are forced to defend themselves to combat raw hate even when caught on video [Music] we're here today to stand in solidarity with jewish residents of the crown heights and brooklyn communities of all ages of all genders and if you want to know why we do it you'll josie hirschkopf isn't here to speak today for yo yossi hirschka i'm not here today to speak for josie hirschbach and dove councilman jaeger and others who you'll hear from it's not poor yoshi don't take this the wrong way you know what this is really for look at these kids what kind of a street will they have five years from now here in crown heights it's up to all of us to do everything in our power to make sure that these streets are safe for them because guess what when i was growing up kindergarten through 12th grade and my mother was a yeshiva teacher in canarsie when i was a kid fourth grade teacher i will tell you that from kindergarten through 12th grade through college through four years on active duty in the army you know that i never once encountered anti-semitism think about that when we talk about a street a world that is free of anti-semitism i come from a generation where we experienced growing up kindergarten through 12th grade college law school four years on active duty not only did i not ever once experience anti-semitism i didn't even have a jewish friend or neighbor or stranger around me who was experiencing anti-semitism that's how close we were it should be the first of many generations never to experience anti-semitism but these kids they've already experienced it time and again on their own streets josie's five-year-old saw it firsthand from that car first speaker before we get to yossi is dull joe heiken was a former state assemblyman but he has continued to serve in capacities that become more and more important by the day i'm grateful for his leadership and his strength for being here without any further ado former assemblyman don't hike