New York police arrest 2 men, seize weapons over ‘threat to Jewish community’ - The Times of Israel

NEW YORK — Law enforcement successful New York City connected Saturday arrested 2 men and seized weapons implicit what the constabulary called a “developing menace to the Jewish community.”

The authorities seized a ample hunting knife, an amerciable Glock 17 handgun and a 30-round magazine, constabulary said.

A Nazi armband was reportedly recovered with the weapons.

It wasn’t instantly wide if the men were carrying the weapons astatine the clip of the arrest.

Following the arrest, constabulary said they were “deploying assets astatine delicate locations” successful the city.

The New York Police Department’s counter-terror portion and the FBI had identified the menace connected Friday, constabulary said.

Early Saturday, officers arrested the 2 men astatine Penn Station, a cardinal proscription hub successful Manhattan, constabulary told The Times of Israel.

Christopher Brown, 21, was charged with making violent threats, aggravated harassment and transgression possession of a weapon.

Matthew Mahrer, 22, was charged with transgression possession of a weapon.

Brown is from Long Island and Mahrer is from New York City, constabulary said.

Authorities said Brown had a past of intelligence unwellness and had precocious made threats to synagogues successful the area.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority officers arrested the brace arsenic they entered Penn Station. The suspects were past turned implicit to the NYPD and FBI.

“We’re highly grateful to NYPD investigators and our instrumentality enforcement partners who uncovered and stopped a menace to our Jewish community,” NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said successful a statement.

The Community Security Service, a Jewish information organization, said it had been successful interaction with national and section instrumentality enforcement implicit the past 24 hours implicit “a circumstantial menace to the New York-area Jewish community.”

The radical said Jewish groups including the Anti-Defamation League, the Community Security Initiative and the Secure Community Network were besides progressive successful the response.

Evan Bernstein, the caput of the CSS, said the Community Security Trust successful the UK archetypal picked up connected the menace connected Twitter and informed its partners successful the US.

The fishy was identified by his societal media posts and investigators were capable to find that helium was connected his mode to Manhattan.

Investigators sent retired a information alert, took photos of the fishy from societal media, distributed the images to information groups connected the crushed and the fishy was apprehended astir midnight, Bernstein told The Times of Israel.

He said helium was not alert of a menace against a circumstantial location, but a wide menace against Jews.

The arrests travel amid a question of threats and attacks against Jews successful New York and the US.

“The menace levels conscionable support going up and up and up,” Bernstein said.

“You’re seeing it from the acold right, you’re seeing it from the left, and the Jews are the ones that are caught successful the middle,” helium said.

The New York Police Department has confirmed 195 antisemitic hatred crimes successful the metropolis betwixt the commencement of the twelvemonth and September 30, representing an onslaught each 33 hours. Many much incidents apt spell unreported. The attacks scope from assaults to racist graffiti, spot harm and verbal harassment.

Jews are consistently the radical astir targeted successful hatred crimes successful the metropolis connected an yearly basis, successful per capita and implicit terms.

Last month, the NYPD reported 20 anti-Jewish hatred crimes, 4 times much than against immoderate different group.

There person been aggregate attacks connected synagogues successful the United States successful caller years, including the 2018 shooting astatine the Tree of Life congregation successful Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which killed 11 radical — the deadliest onslaught ever connected the Jewish assemblage successful the United States.

In 2019, an attacker wielding a machete killed an aged man astatine a rabbi’s location during a vacation solemnisation successful Monsey, northbound of New York City.

Earlier this month, national prosecutors successful New Jersey arrested a teenager with extremist Islamist views for making threats that led to a sweeping FBI informing for the state’s synagogues. The menace prompted constabulary successful neighboring New York to besides summation guards and patrols astatine synagogues.

“They’re precise antithetic ideologies coming from precise antithetic places,” Bernstein said. “Jews are uncovering themselves successful the crosshairs from these assorted antithetic groups but the communal denominator is that they hatred Jews.”

In April, an antisemitic attacker went connected a rampage successful New Jersey, stabbing and moving implicit respective Jews, putting the assemblage connected edge. The fishy has since been charged with national hatred crimes.

In 2019, New Jersey saw 1 of the worst antisemitic attacks successful caller years erstwhile 2 attackers opened fire in a kosher supermarket successful Jersey City, sidesplitting the Jewish owner, a Jewish lawsuit and a store employee.

A report released by the ADL earlier this twelvemonth recovered the highest levels of reported antisemitic events successful the US during 2021 since the enactment started tracking the contented successful the 1970s.

Kanye West’s antisemitic tirades and NBA subordinate Kyrie Irving’s promotion of an antisemitic movie person stoked the flames further and sparked a nationalist speech astir antisemitism successful the US.

The manager of the FBI, Christopher Wray, said Thursday that the US Jewish assemblage was “getting deed from each sides” and “desperately” needs further enactment from the bureau amid an evident uptick successful antisemitic attacks.

He said that immoderate 63 percent of spiritual hatred crimes were motivated by antisemitism, “and that’s targeting a radical that makes up astir 2.4% of the American population.”