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We are calling on the NYPD Hate Crimes Unit to take over this investigation and ensure the assailant is caught and that appropriate aggravated charges are leveled against him,” said Dov Hikind. “It’s unconscionable that, despite the preponderance of evidence supporting the victim’s claim, the responding police officers decided arbitrarily that what was an obvious hate crime was not. Their egregious error in judgment must be corrected immediately as we cannot have violent hate attacks against Jews be swept under the rug as common harassment when in fact it’s part of a pernicious and dangerous pattern.
“NEW YORK CITY — On the afternoon of Wednesday, November 8, Amichai Gabai, co-founder of IsraelFriends.us, was outside the Park Lane hotel on Central Park South smoking a cigarette and speaking Hebrew on his phone when someone without warning or provocation shoved him hard. Thinking it may have been an accident, Amichai was surprised when his attacker took a few steps and then turned around to taunt him by calling him a “f***ing Jew.”
Amichai didn’t take the bait and let the attacker go. After recounting what happened to his friends, Amichai filed a police report a few hours later but was told by the responding officers that all the physical assault had amounted to was harassment and not a hate crime.
“I’ve been in touch with various members of the NYPD to look into this case and ensure appropriate action is taken in terms of getting the security camera footage from the hotel, arresting the assailant, and charging him with an aggravated count of a hate crime,” explained Dov Hikind. “If this wasn’t a hate crime according to the basic definition of the hate crime statute, which requires a clear and explicit demonstration of hateful intention, then how much more explicit must Jew-haters be as they go about targeting Jews with wanton violence? I believe this was an error of judgment on the part of the responding officers which is why we’re calling on the NYPD Hate Crimes Unit, and ultimately City Hall, to correct this egregious and intolerable error.”
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