Williamsburg, NY – The victim of a Thanksgiving hate crime testified Friday his attackers screamed “Jew, Jew!” as they beat him unconscious on a Brooklyn street.
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“They ripped off my clothes, my hat and my yarmulke. They were punching my face,” said Joel Weinberger, 26, a Hasidic teacher and father of four.
Weinberger ended up with numerous fractures and a broken eye socket. He had three steel implants in his cheek, he told the Daily News outside the courtroom.
“I was hit from the back; I lost consciousness,” Weinberger testified at an evidence hearing.
He came to, tried to run away, but was hit repeatedly until he blacked out again, he said.
Two 15-year-old boys were charged with assault as a hate crime for the attack on Harrison St. in Williamsburg.
Two NYPD detectives testified that the teens said they attacked “the Jew” because “it was something fun to do.”
Detective Nicole Carter said the boys claimed they “were bored,” went to a park, bought a “$5 bag of weed, got high” and then decided to go to what they called “Jew town.”
According to Det. Carter, when one teen was asked why they were targeting the Jewish community, he said “It was something fun to do” and “they don’t hit back.”
Carter said the teens confessed to being bored before the incident, so they smoked $5 worth of pot at a local park and decided to head to P.S. 318, which they referred to as “Jew Town.”
Weinberger said the attack left him with a fractured eye and three metal plates in his face, although he eventually was able to get away.
He said he was confronted by the teens while he talking on his cell phone and walking home from the Be’er Torah Yeshiva, which is three blocks away. He said the teens didn’t take his wallet or his phone – even though Weinberger said he offered it to them.
Weinberger said he was so dazed after being hit that he couldn’t identify his attackers in court. Police said the teens admitted to attacking Weinberger while being questioned over other attacks.
However, their lawyers contend they were illegally coerced into the confessions, although they don’t deny the teens were at the scene of the attack.
The teens are facing assault and harassment charges and the case is being handled as a bias crime.
One of the teens is accused of later beating two other Orthodox Jews – one last Saturday and another on Monday as he left a Chanukah party.
Because the suspects were charged as juveniles, The News is not publishing their names.
Both are chronic truants and drug users who cannot be controlled by their parents, probation reports say.
One of the teens was laughing during the proceedings, prompting a warning from the judge to “treat the process with dignity.”
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Dec. 17.
Where is the lemrick nelson assailant when u need him
and imagine if it was a jew doing half of these things to an arab. If he gets a trial, he would be considered lucky.
So they’ll get 1-2 with probation and be back on the streets with new tricks and mayhem to share. Watch this one become another laughingstock of injustice.
Its time to teach these punks a lesson, so they no longer believe “jews don’t hit back”.
What a horrific story. Let’s hope and pray the rebbe has a full recovery.
The late Rabbi Meir Kahane, AH, founded the Jewish Defense League to combat anti-Semites … and the stereotype of Jews who do not fight back.
There are a myriad of self-defense and martial arts classes one can take, from
Tora Dojo to Warren Levi (who took over Alex Sternberg’s school) to many others, including non-Jewish clubs.
Krav maga courses, based on an eclectic self-defense system developed for the Israel army, can give someone a lot of basics.
Self-defense courses are an excellent way to maintain one’s health.
Shotguns and rifles can be obtained legally. Many, many non-Jews have them. One can learn how to safely use a gun.
Jews need not be pacifists. Christianity believes in turning the other cheek.
There is no mitzvah to get beaten up.
None of this is meant to suggest that this person was at fault in any way.
“They don’t hit back”-
EVERY JEW A 22!!
Learn a little self defense/karate lessons. Many are given in Brooklyn that are “single-gender”. Every BY and Yeshivah should be taught self defense tactics, especially in high school. What to do when someone is following you, what to do if someone approaches you, how to spot if someone will be about to attach (check their waist area- if it moves, most likely they will be kicking or punching you…) how to quickly break their nose ect so can run away. Its Pikuach Nefesh! I took some just to be safe, and while I will not invite trouble, I feel safer and ready to defend myself.
C’mon- if they know we won’t try to defend ourselves, we make ourselves ready to be beaten up! We are just walking around with a “hit me” sign on our backs.
# 5 many JEWS own guns too.( licensed) And some of them are quite a good shot too. From Glock,to Uzis AR-15’s( with laser scopes) and ak 47’s too. and lots of em go for target practice at Nassau coliseum. This is not to encourage anyone to arm themselves,even though we are allowed by the constitution to keep and bear arms legally.
If anyone attacks another person he has every right and responsibility to protect themselves. as it says Ha bu la hoirgo hashkem ve hoirgo. And these punks will not serve any time at all. since they were juveniles(delinquents) and the records are sealed forever. especially, if it can be proven that they were high.
my my what a nice bat and a few minutes with the shomrim guys would do to PERMANENTLY clear up their sinusis,and calm them down,a bit.
and # 5 how do you know about Warren Levy and Alex? I happen to be a good friend of Sternberg. back from the 70’s Shotokan Karate.
Why arent the punks locked up for a long time to teach them and others a lesson that “if you do the crime you do the time”