A Jewish man was violently assaulted on a New York City subway on Tuesday by an antisemitic assailant.
The brutal attack on the E train left him with lacerations on his face and sent him to the hospital.
“This Jewish man was violently attacked for no other reason than being identifiably Jewish, and the perpetrator told him he’d have killed the Jewish man if only he had a gun,” Jewish activist and former New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind tweeted.
The victim said in an interview with Hikind that there were around a dozen people in the train car with him. He recounted that the attacker walked onto the subway and stepped on his foot.
“I grimace in pain and he thinks maybe I’m about to do something but instead he reaches for my phone, he says, ‘Give me the phone. Stop recording me.’ And he pulls my phone. He pulls my phone, he says, ‘Give me the phone, Jew.’”
He said that he refused to give him the phone and then the assailant punched him in the face, hitting his lip.
“There’s blood pouring out of my mouth. It’s going all over my face, it’s going all over my arms, it’s on my shirt. I’m dripping in blood and nobody in the subway is doing absolutely anything. Nobody got up to do anything,” he said.
He added that it was only after the subway arrived at the next station that new passengers began to react to the situation.
He remembered that at that point, he was in shock and covered with blood that he described as “gushing from my mouth.”
He was treated at a hospital where he received multiple stitches in his mouth.
When asked if he will take the subway again, the man replied: “I’m honestly scared and normally I’m not. I’ve never had this incident. I’ve been taking the subway since I started Yeshiva University in 2005 and I haven’t had a single incident.”
While he was thankful that the police are investigating the attack, he explained that the experience has left his traumatized in terms of taking the subway in the future.
“I know [the police] are trying their hardest and they deserve a lot of respect because it’s not an easy job, and I know they’re trying to find someone. But at the moment, I am scared to go on the subway… and I’ve never been afraid to go on the subway.”
When asked if he now thinks Jews in New York should hide their kippah or Star of David for safety reasons, he replied: ”I think it's a very personal decision. I personally would not do something like this but I can sympathize with people that are afraid.”
“It's really sad because anyone should feel safe taking the subway regardless of their religion,” he added. “That's really the most important thing and for someone to feel not safe for taking the subway, I think it's a very horrible thing. It really is.”
He said that while he is on painkillers and still in pain, the attack could have been much worse.
“He said something else as he was getting off the subway. He mentioned if he had a gun he would shoot me,” he said.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)