The Guardian Angels, a private, unarmed crime-prevention group, said it would start patrolling New York City’s Brooklyn borough on Sunday following a series of anti-Semitic attacks.
Curtis Sliwa, who founded the organization in 1979 in New York City, said the patrols would start at noon in the Crown Heights neighborhood and expand to Williamsburg and Borough Park later in the day.
The move came hours before five people were wounded in a stabbing attack during a Hanukkah party at a rabbi’s house in upstate New York late Saturday.
The latest incident followed eight attacks on Jews in Brooklyn since Dec. 13, according to the New York Police Department.
The violence included victims being struck in the face, head and back of the head and at least one suspect throwing a beverage at someone, police said.
[WATCH: NY Gov Cuomo Visits Rabbi Rottenberg’s House – BUT HE JUST SIGNED BAIL REFORM!]
Sliwa said local leaders of the Lubavitch Hasidic movement asked for his group’s help, and he believes Guardian Angels patrols will halt the violence.
“We’re a visual deterrence in our red berets and our red satin jackets,” he said. “Nobody’s going to commit an attack when we’re around.”
[HATE UPDATE: Crown Heights: Woman Charged With Hate Crime; Deblasio Visits 770]
If they do, he said, “We’ll physically restrain the persons responsible, make a citizen’s arrest, and hold them until the police arrive.”
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7 Responses
Maybe the Guardian Angels can heal the wounds between Shomrim and Shmira.
While there is no reliable source of statistics on the religious affiliations of individual taxpayers, I’d speculate that a VERY large percentage of city and state income and corporate taxes are paid by Jews or Jewish-owned businesses. Yet, it seems as a community, our taxes are redistributed to the lower-income communities of the city and state and we repeatedly end up begging for greater security. Our public officials have gone overboard on criminal justice reform without having a coherent plan to deal with explosion in hate crimes. Its time for a more pragmatic review of our priorities because the alternative, as the YWN editors note will be a wave of vigilante justice which I fear will only trigger even more bloodshed.
@joseph
Why go that way now????
To Gadolhadoris: I have no idea whether your guess about
To Gadolhadoris: I have no idea whether your guess about taxes paid by Jews is right or wrong. I am sure that the anti-Semites believe – in fact, are absolutely certain – that Jews pay little or no taxes, because those Jews know all sorts of tricks. But tax payments should not govern who gets police protection and who does not.
Jews deserve credit for their own self-protection groups, e.g., the Shomrim in many Jewish neighborhoods. Whether the Guardian Angels will do any good – I really don’t know.
Curtis SLiwa is the man
Dear Guardian Angels….. Thank you! Your actions are so heartwarming in a world that seems to grow colder and harsher every day. Keep up the good work!