Mayoral Candidate Andrew Yang and Assemblyman Simcha Eichenstein Comfort Agudah Shul Hate Crime Victims

By Yehudit Garmaise

     Mayoral candidate Andrew Yang and Assemblyman Simcha Eichenstein met with the victims of the hate crimes that took place yesterday outside of the Agudath Israel shul, which is located at 4911 16th Ave.

     At his home, where he hosted Eichenstein and Yang, one of the victims reported that yesterday, when he was alone walking, a menacing looking man in a car started shouting ‘Free Palestine’ near a stop light near the shul.

      “I didn’t react,” said one of the victims, who hosted Yang and Eichenstein at his home. “I didn’t want to show them that I was a little bit scared, so I passed, and I went further down.

      “I just stared at the car and the license plate.

      “Meanwhile the light changed, and they came down here to 16th Avenue, and he said, ‘Are you looking at my license plate? 

      ‘We’ll kill all the Jews down here.”

      “Orthodox Jews who were on their way to pray were harassed, were yelled at, ‘Free Palestine. Kill all the Jews,’” Assemblyman Eichenstein said last night in front of the Agudah shul.

      “This has to stop, and it has to stop now. 

     “We need our leaders to come out forcefully.

     “Today it is the Orthodox Jewish community. Tomorrow it is a different community. We come together and address the rise in hate crime head-on. We need more law enforcement to take this seriously.”

     “You need to see more law enforcement officers on the streets,” said Yang, perhaps referring to an unfulfilled promise made by Mayor Bill de Blasio, NYPD Chief of Department Rodney Harrison, and many commanding officers on Friday that the neighborhood would receive an increased police presence.

     “That is what you deserve," Yang said. "You deserve that level of safety and responsiveness.”