Elias Rosner, Brooklyn man survives anti-semitic attack after leaving Crown Heights synagogue as NYPD seek wanted ‘black’ assailant. The rise of anti-semitism continues.
A Brooklyn man has told of surviving a stabbing after leaving a Crown Heights synagogue at the hands of a wanted assailant in what NYC authorities believe was a targeted, an anti-semitic attack.
Elias Rosner, a 35-year-old Orthodox Jew, had just left his Crown Heights synagogue at Kingston Ave. and Lincoln Place about 4 p.m. Tuesday with a few fellow congregants when an un-identified individual ran up to the group and launched an antisemitic tirade.
‘We were just crossing the street when he started ranting at all of us,’ Rosner told the nydailynews. ‘He said if the Holocaust was successful we wouldn’t be here today and how he wanted to kill a Jew today and he couldn’t wait to do it. I looked at him like he had two heads growing out of his shoulders and he started going off (on me).’
Brooklyn man who stabbed Orthodox Jew leaving Crown Heights synagogue arrested
At some point after further words were exchanged the attacker pulled out a knife and stabbed Rosner in the chest just above his heart.
‘I was able to defend myself just fine,’ Rosner told the nydailynews.
The stabber ran off and was last seen heading toward Sterling Place and Albany Ave.
The attack took place just before the third night of Chanukah and two days after father and son gunmen in Sydney, Australia, killed 15 people and injured 40 at a Chanukah event at Bondi Beach.
Medics took Rosner to Kings County Hospital, where he was treated for a minor wound.
‘Luckily a combination of technique and blade shape made the blade glance off,’ Rosner said.
Following the attack, the NYPD ‘deployed dozens of additional officers to Crown Heights and the surrounding areas to search for the perpetrator.
The rise of anti-semitism
Cops recovered images of the suspect from surveillance cameras. On Wednesday they released footage of the suspect, who was sporting cornrows and a black-and-white jacket with the word “Genuine” on the back, and asked the public’s help identifying him and tracking him down.
The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force is on the case and interviewed Rosner at the hospital late Tuesday. On Wednesday, Rosner was able to leave hospital.
While cops believe the stabber may be mentally disturbed — Rosner said that it ‘didn’t give him a free pass for his behavior.’
‘There are plenty of people with mental health problems who aren’t bigoted and aren’t violent,’ he said. ‘That shouldn’t be an excuse.’
Rosner believes random antisemitic attacks like the one he suffered happen when more and more people call to ‘globalize the intifada’ and denounce Israel, although he admitted that the stabber never said anything about Israel in his rant.
‘Globalize the Intifada’
In the aftermath of Sydney’s Bondi Beach attack, debate has raged as to whether criticizing Israel’s actions in Gaza and solidarity with Palestinian victims has emboldened extremists to launch attacks on innocent civilians, who although Jewish are not responsible for the controversial policies of the Israel government which has since led to 70K Palestinians killed and up to 2 million people displaced in a humanitarian crisis in the aftermath of October 7, 2023 attack which led to 1200 Jewish people slaughtered at the hands of Hamas.
In the aftermath of Tuesday’s attack and against the backdrop of Sydney’s tragic mass shooting, Jewish enclaves, synagogues, schools, communities have beefed up security amid heightened tensions.
