Hateful Crowd Steals, Burns Israel Flag Near Columbia Campus: NYPD

NEW YORK CITY — A hateful crowd outside Columbia University stole a man's Israel flag, burned it and threw a rock in his face as he tried to recover it, police said.

The April 20 incident is being investigated as a potential hate crime, NYPD officials said.

The assault unfolded about 9:55 p.m. as a 22-year-old man marched with an Israel flag near Amsterdam Avenue and West 116th Street, right near Columbia's campus, authorities said.

An as-yet-unidentified man then walked up and stole the flag, police said.

The flag's owner ran into a crowd of people to grab it back, only to have a separate, still-unidentified person throw a rock that hit his face, authorities said.

A third unidentified person grabbed the flag and set it on fire, officials said.

The man who originally had the flag suffered minor injuries in the skirmish, but refused medical attention, police said.

The pro-Palestinian student protests in recent days on Columbia's campus have yielded concerns of antisemitism, but verified incidents have been rare.

The suspected hate crime in this instance took place off campus and it's unclear what connection it has, if any, to Columbia students.

Police seek help identifying one suspect, who is described as a man, about 20 to 30 years old and last seen wearing a black and yellow jacket, black hooded sweatshirt, black pants and white sneakers.

People with information are asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or, for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). They can also submittips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/, or on Twitter @NYPDTips.