Security Fears Grow In NYC As Israel-Hamas Conflict Rages

NEW YORK CITY — Increasingly tense dueling pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian protests, along with a spate of violent potential hate crimes, prompted growing fears over security in New York City.

City elected officials and NYPD brass promised Thursday to heighten security around houses of worship as tensions from the Israel-Hamas conflict boiled over at points in the past day.

New Yorkers can expect to see more cops in Midtown, tweeted City Council Majority Leader Keith Powers.

"This is a precautionary measure & at this time there are no credible threats," he wrote.

Council Member Justin Brannan, in a joint statement with state Sen. Andrew Gounardes, condemned reported hate crimes in southern Brooklyn. He pledged to work with police to keep New Yorkers safe.

"Escalating violence in Israel and Palestine has inflamed tensions here at home," their statement reads. "But we cannot allow these conflicts to cause violence or hateful rhetoric on the street of New York City."

My team and I will continue working with NYPD and local leaders to provide additional security and support especially outside our local houses of worship in order to keep everyone in our community safe. An attack on one is an attack on all.
— Justin Brannan (@JustinBrannan) October 12, 2023

All NYPD cops will report in uniform, police officials told Patch — a security measure the New York Post tied to a former Hamas leader's call for worldwide protests Friday.

New Yorkers can expect to see "high-visibility patrols" of cops near protests, mass gatherings and houses of worship, said Rebecca Weiner, the NYPD's deputy commissioner of intelligence and counterterrorism.

"This is really about making sure people feel safe, feel supported and can go about their daily lives," she told FOX5.

But at least one prominent New York City institution saw a major disruption to its usual day-to-day life.

Columbia University shut off access to outsiders Thursday after an Israeli student was attacked with a stick and ahead of a planned pro-Palestinian rally.

10:14 a.m.

NEW YORK CITY — At least three violent incidents overnight in New York City appeared inspired by the bloody conflict between Israel and Hamas, according to cops and reports.

All three incidents — which included an 18-year-old Palestinian man who was beaten by a group of attackers who waved Israeli flags from a car — unfolded over the span of hours Wednesday night in Brooklyn.

They also came after NYPD officials ordered all officers to appear in uniform in anticipation of upcoming mass protests Friday in support of Palestinians, the New York Post reported.

The first tense moment unfolded about 7:40 p.m., when two juvenile boys apparently pointed what turned out to be fake guns at B'Nai Yosef synagogue along Ocean Parkway in Gravesend, police said.

A local Jewish patrol group responded along with NYPD officers, who gave the boys criminal court summonses, authorities said.

About three hours later, a Palestinian man, 18, walking with friends in Bay Ridge was attacked by men who waved Israeli flags from their cars, the New York Daily News first reported.

The men in cars shouted anti-Palestinian messages before they jumped the man, punching and kicking him, according to the report.

The incident is being investigated as a potential hate crime, the report states.

Anger over Palestinian flags sparked the third attack, which unfolded at Flushing and Classon avenues in Brooklyn, ABC7 first reported.

Two apparently Jewish men walked up to two men holding Palestinian flags, grabbed a flag and hit one man over the head, the report states.

Mayor Eric Adams said this week that police are on "high alert" for potential violence inspired by the conflict.

"We have to be on high alert, we cannot let our guards down," he said.