A Sikh man was called “Osama Bin Laden” and assaulted during a hate crime on Roosevelt Island – the second attack against a member of the religion in recent weeks, authorities said Friday.
The victim, 34, said he and his mother were nearing his car on Main St. at 8:15 p.m. Thursday when a group of teens ran up and started yelling at them, calling the woman “a b—- with facial hair.” They then punched the man in the face and in the back of the neck, leaving him with minor injuries.
A Williamsburg man allegedly disrupted Ramadan for Muslim worshipers in Bay Ridge, after he repeatedly drove by their mosque blasting Israeli music, law enforcement sources said Friday.
The 20-year-old Chaim Weiss decorated his 2013 Honda with a handful of Israeli flags and pumped up the music as worshipers were inside a mosque at 68th Street and Fifth Avenue in Bay Ridge at 4 a.m. July 20, a criminal court document states.
Mohamed Elnashar, executive director of the Islamic Society of Bay Ridge, captured the whole thing on video surveillance, which shows the man driving by at least six times in the flagged ride, the court documents charge.
Weiss allegedly then parked in front of the mosque, which was filled with a large congregation of people who approached and tried to stop him, law enforcement sources said.
Weiss fled the scene and drove back and forth four more times with the Israeli hits playing as the religious ceremony was in session, the sources said.
He then set up shop in front of the mosque again, displaying the Israeli flags on his ride, all while Elnashar read from the Quran – though he had to stop because the music was too loud, the documents show.
A Michigan man is facing jail time for an alleged assault against a Muslim mom. Jonathan Patrick Deuel, 29, was charged with ethnic intimidation and misdemeanor assault and battery on Thursday for what Muslim activists are calling a “hate crime.”
The July 19 attack came as the woman and her family were enjoying a day at a Meridian Township mall. 26-year-old woman was walking to her car with her 5-year-old daughter when a group of three – two men and one woman – surrounded her. According to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the attackers attempted to pull off the woman’s niqab and abaya – the traditional veil and cloak that some Muslim women wear in public.
The woman was allegedly knocked to the ground while her attackers shouted slurs and cursed at her. The assailants fled after the woman’s husband heard her cries and rushed to the scene. The mom was hospitalized for 36 hours, complaining of chest pain and a numbness in her left arm.
Meridian Township Police announced that Deuel will be the only suspect charged for the attack. The ethnic intimidation charge is a felony which could cost Deuel up to two years in prisonl and a $5,000 fine, MLive reports. The misdemeanor charge could carry an imprisonment of up to 93 days and fines of up to $500.
Gavin Ellzey, vice chairman of the Kansas GOP’s 3rd District Congressional Committee, resigned Wednesday night just hours after his tweet encouraging the offending of Muslims became the focus of news stories.
In a brief email to Clay Barker, the Kansas GOP’s executive director, and 3rd District chairwoman Vicki Sciolaro, Ellzey said he was stepping down immediately. “I feel that is the best for the GOP,” Ellzey wrote.
He sent the message at 8:50 p.m. Wednesday, about four hours after The Star posted a story about Ellzey’s comments on Muslims. In a tweet in early July, Ellzey wrote that “offending Muslims is the duty of any civilized person,” and added, “especially with a .45.”
In an interview, the Overland Park resident said he had overreacted to news reports about Christians being “crucified” overseas. He said he had no intention of shooting anyone and did not own a gun.
Among the U.S. cities that have the most residents on the government’s terrorist watch list is one that stands out because of its comparatively small population: Dearborn.
Dearborn, a suburb of Detroit, was described by The Intercept, an online news site that reports on issues of national security, as having the second-highest concentration of people designated by the government as “known or suspected terrorists.”
The Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, along with other civil rights organizations, will hold a press conference Aug. 8 at Dearborn City Hall to call for a congressional inquiry into how the government could label Dearborn as such.
The report said that Dearborn’s ranking, just behind New York City and ahead of Houston despite their significantly larger populations, has to do with its concentration of Arab and Muslim Americans.
“Given that there has not been a Dearborn resident who has ever committed an act of terrorism in the homeland, nor any significant pattern of residents being involved in international terrorism, we have serious concerns that federal law enforcement views Dearborn as a suspect community primarily based on its Arab and Muslim demographics,” said CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid in a news release.
Dearborn has the largest percentage of Arab Americans in the country, according to The Intercept report. “At 96,000 residents, Dearborn is much smaller than the other cities in the top five, suggesting that its significant Muslim population – 40 percent of its population is of Arab descent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau – has been disproportionately targeted for watchlisting,” the report said.
How Americans view Arabs and Muslims has gotten worse in recent years, with negative feelings strongest among Republicans and senior citizens, according to a poll released on Tuesday.
Only 27 percent of Americans have a favorable opinion of Muslims, down from 35 percent in 2010, according to the Zogby poll, commissioned by the non-profit Arab American Institute. Favorable attitudes toward Arabs dropped to 32 percent from 43 percent in 2010.
The poll also found that 42 percent of respondents believe an American Muslim’s religion would influence his or her decision making in an important government job. The same percentage believe it is justified for law enforcement to profile Arab Americans or American Muslims.
“For me, the biggest concern in the poll is not just that people don’t like us, but what not liking us translates to,” said Institute president Jim Zogby, who is of Lebanese descent. He said attitudes towards profiling and Arabs and Muslims in government posts “affect our ability to function as communities here.”
The NYPD’s Hate Crimes unit is looking to identify the person who distributed anti-Muslim fliers in at least one of the Shore Haven apartment buildings near Cropsey Avenue and 21st Avenue in Bath Beach, according to Councilman Mark Treyger’s office.
The fliers were found throughout the building this week, showing a hateful message calling Muslims “the second holocaust” and claims “USA hates you”. There is what appears to be a woman in a burka inside a “No” symbol, and there is also an abundance of exclamation points.
“I am disgusted and saddened to hear of this hateful act in our community. There is absolutely no place for this type of hatred, especially in a city and borough as diverse and tolerant as ours. My thanks to the 62nd Precinct for their quick response and thorough investigation of this heinous act,” said Treyger in a statement.
Two years ago, Muslims here were mourning the loss of their mosque, a place of worship the close-knit community was forced to surrender after an arsonist burned it to the ground during the holy month of Ramadan.
This Ramadan was different.
On Monday, families gathered for the first time at a brand new, $2 million mosque to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, a religious holiday observed by Muslims worldwide, which marks the end of the holy month.
Police in Long Beach are investigating a possible hate crime committed against a woman wearing Muslim garb. The incident occurred earlier this month, authorities said.
A 32-year-old female Long Beach resident, wearing a traditional hijab, was attacked in a parking lot in the 4000 block of Atlantic Avenue. Police said the woman was wearing a black hijab, the head covering Muslim women wear to conceal their hair and necks.
As the woman loaded items into her car, she said she was approached by a man from behind. He grabbed the hijab and began cursing at the woman, police said. Authorities said the man called the hijab by its name, indicating he had knowledge of the Muslim culture.
Police said the man tried to remove the hijab from the woman’s head, pulling and twisting it as she resisted. The victim was choked by his action and received scratches and abrasions to her neck. The man fled on foot, southbound down an alley, with the hijab in his hand.
Community leaders of all faiths gathered in Brooklyn on Tuesday to push back on what they described as hateful acts against local Muslim residents.
As the holy month of Ramadan nears to a close, residents were dismayed on when three young men circled a city block at least six times with flashing lights, blaring horns and waving Israeli flags as worshipers were arriving for morning prayers at 4 a.m.
The dustup is the latest in a series of reported bias crimes towards Brooklyn’s Muslim community currently being investigated by NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force.
In early July, residents along Ocean Parkway found anti-Muslim graffiti along Ocean Parkway. Last Friday evening, three older Muslim men in Coney Island were pelted with eggs and insults as they walked to the Thayba Islamic Center for prayer. “This is for your Allah,” the assailants allegedly shouted.
Manaf Abdul, 38, of the Thayba Islamic Center said the community is naturally apprehensive. “The community is mainly concerned about its safety,” he said of the mosque. “It’s like a home, and it’s very basic and natural when your home is attacked you feel very unsafe and insecure.”