Following a call by The Jewish Future Alliance in Crown Heights, The NYPD is now looking into a series of attacks on Jews in Brooklyn. At least one attack, thankfully, was caught on surveillance tape.

Police have yet to connect all the incidents, according to CBS 2. But released surveillance video that shows one group attacking a Jewish man. The video shows from a few different angles the victim, a man in a hooded jacket, getting punched.

One man who didn’t want to be identified told CBS2 his 12-year-old son was attacked in the same way. “It’s clearly anti-Semitism,” the man said.

The 64-year-old said his son, who was dressed in traditional Jewish clothing, was attacked last Wednesday afternoon on President Street. “One, full strength with his fist, whacked him, punched him, on the side of the face, full force,” the man said.

The child went to the ground as he heard the group of five to six teens yell out. “A hysterical, happy shout, ‘We got him,’” the man said.

Video also shows a 19-year-old Jewish man being sucker-punched.

“He was actually holding an expensive camera. And they punched him and nothing was stolen,” Rabbi Yaacov Behrman told CBS2. “And they’re playing a game: ‘knockout.’ ‘Knock out the Jew,’ maybe. And they’re going around the neighborhood punching Jews.”

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said the Hate Crimes Task Force was looking into the two misdemeanor assaults, as well as three acts of graffiti vandalism and a claim of verbal harassment, according to The Daily News. Yet the Commissioner fell short of calling the incidents a pattern.

“It is difficult to tell at this time,” Kelly told reporters Tuesday. “Obviously, some of it is based on descriptions. The crowds change in size, so it’s hard to tell if it is a clear pattern.

Clear pattern or not, according to State records, hate crimes in New York grew 30 percent between 2011 and 2012, to a total of 702 incidents last year.

The increase was largely in New York City and Long Island. Incidents were up 54 percent in the city and up 18 percent in the rest of the state, according to the state Division of Criminal Justice Services.

New York City reported 374 hate-crime incidents and 148 arrests. The rest of the state reported 331 incidents and 138 arrests – with about one-third of those in Suffolk County, the state reported this month.

22 percent of the most frequent hate crimes were anti-Jewish, the state statistics show.

The state said hate crimes against property increased 48 percent in 2012, while hate crimes against people increased 12 percent.

Nearly 65 percent of hate crimes against property were anti-Jewish.

“For us, it’s a reminder that although New York is a diverse state, we’re still not immune to anti-Semitism and all forms of hate,” said Evan Bernstein, regional director for the Anti-Defamation League.

“We see an overwhelming community response from New Yorkers that are willing to stand up and say that our state is not accepting of anti-Semitism and hate,” he said, and added: “We still have to do better job of educating and preventing these things from happening.”

(Jacob Kornbluh – YWN)