As the representative of the largest concentration of visibly Jewish 30,000 plus families that live in Boro Park, and as the home to the largest population of Holocaust survivors outside of Israel, the Boro Park Jewish Community Council is issuing a statement condemning yesterday’s deeply disturbing, random attack against one of its own.

The traumatic encounter injured 62-year-old man Lipa Schwartz as he walked to shul Sunday morning. Farrukh Afzal from Staten Island was arrested and charged with a hate crime during which his screams in Arabic which included the words “Allah” and “Israel” made it clear that this was an antiSemitic hate crime.

“I am deeply disturbed that such a hate crime could happen in broad daylight,” says Rabbi Avi Greenstein, the CEO of Boro Park Jewish Community Council. “Our community is united in its outrage, and we will stand together to prevent such a terrible occurrence from ever happening again.”

Rabbi Greenstein also made it very clear that the Boro Park community has a very good relationship with all of its neighbors, nurtured over decades, including the Muslim American community.

“Our community will continue to stand united and vigilant,” Rabbi Greenstein continued. “The Boro Park Jewish Community Council will be looking into further efforts that can be made to prevent such terrible incidents from ever occurring again in the future.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)