By Kanishka Singh
Jan 28 (Reuters) – A car slammed into the entrance of the headquarters of a Jewish religious order in New York City on Wednesday in an incident that police said they were investigating as a hate crime.
No injuries were reported from the incident at the Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters in Brooklyn and police said the driver was arrested. Chabad followers, also known as Lubavitchers, belong to the ultra-Orthodox Hasidic school of Judaism.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the man who was arrested “intentionally, and repeatedly, crashed his car into the building.” Mamdani, who said he visited the location after the incident, described the act as “horrifying” and “deeply alarming” in a social media post.
New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the driver of the vehicle was arrested and a bomb squad found no explosive devices in the car.
“Earlier tonight a car crashed into a side entrance at Chabad HQ at 770 Eastern Parkway, the building encompasses one of the most important synagogues in the world,” Chabad Lubavitch spokesperson Motti Seligson said on social media, adding the driver was arrested “almost immediately.”
Tisch told reporters the incident was being investigated as a hate crime by the New York City Police Department’s hate crimes task force.
An ABC News affiliate identified the vehicle as a gray Honda with New Jersey plates.
Mamdani, Tisch and Seligson separately confirmed there were no injuries.
“Antisemitism has no place in our city, and violence or intimidation against Jewish New Yorkers is unacceptable,” Mamdani said.
Tisch said police have increased security “out of an abundance of caution” around houses of worship.
Hate crimes against Jewish communities have risen in recent years in the United States. Rights advocates have particularly noted a rise in hate against U.S. Jews and Muslims since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza after an October 2023 Hamas attack.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
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