Police said a 29-year-old man from Pelham Parkway has been arrested on hate crime and other charges for tossing a brick through the window of his neighbor’s building during the Passover holiday on April 7, as reported.

 

Upon investigation, police attributed the attack to the fact that the victim, longtime Matthews Avenue resident Rochelle Shapiro, had displayed an Israeli flag and a pro-Israel sign in the window.

The incident was reported at 2.45 p.m. on Friday, April 7, when Shapiro said she was standing in front of the window of her first-floor apartment at 2121 Matthews Avenue.

 

She said a slab of concrete smashed through the window and struck a giant pot, narrowly missing her.

An NYPD official said at the time of the reported incident, “The report states an unknown suspect intentionally damaged a victim’s window by throwing a rock. A sign in the window stated, ‘Wherever we stand, we stand with Israel’.”

 

In a text message sent to Norwood News by Shapiro on Tuesday, April 25, she wrote, “Just informing you that the perpetrator who broke my window was arrested this morning. He’s in custody right now.”

The following day the NYPD announced that Sifat Sirajee, 29, had been arrested in front of his home at 2165 Matthews Avenue at 6.30 a.m. on April 25.

 

They said he was charged with two counts of attempted hate crime assault, assault, attempted assault, reckless endangerment, a hate crime, criminal mischief, and criminal possession of a weapon. On Sunday, April 30, Norwood News attempted to reach Sirajee for comment at his apartment but we were unsuccessful. He is due back in court on May 15.

Year-to-date hate crimes in The Bronx as of April 24, according to NYPD data, are down 33.3 percent versus last year (10 year to date versus 15 at the same time last year).

 

Norwood News has previously reported on various hate crimes carried out against different targeted groups in The Bronx, including the trans community in Norwood, as well as other controversial rallies held outside the office and home of Jewish assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz (A.D. 81). We’ve also reported on efforts by other community groups to curb such hate crimes.

We also reported on a number of attacks on various Jewish synagogues in 2021 in the northwest Bronx. A man was later arrested and charged in connection with those incidents. Riverdale resident Michael Horowitz later wrote an op-ed in Norwood News on the subject.

 

Meanwhile, as reported, three mosques were broken into in the north Bronx during the holy month of Ramadan.

 

Meanwhile, the borough president, in conjunction with the Bronx Interfaith Council, hosted a National Day of Prayer on May 4, in efforts to encourage harmony among communities of differing faith.

Earlier this year, on March 20, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-Queens) joined community leaders in calling for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to look into the compliance of law enforcement agencies with the national system to report hate crimes.

 

Gillibrand’s office said that The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) 2021 Hate Crimes Statistics report originally released late in 2022 found that a significant number of law enforcement agencies were failing to report hate crimes through the FBI’s new data collection system, known as the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS).

 

They said this has resulted in unreliable data and artificially low numbers. Gillibrand and Meng planned to send a bipartisan letter to the DOJ to request an overview of the status of NIBRS reporting compliance among law enforcement agencies, as well as recommendations to increase participation in order to ensure the accuracy of federal hate crimes data.

 

Gillibrand’s office said that while the FBI recently published supplemental data that provided more clarity on the 2021 hate crimes figures, both the senator and Meng are looking to prevent future incomplete and inaccurate accountings of hate crimes in the years to come.

 

On April 25, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced that various City landmarks, including City Hall, were to be lit in blue and white in honor of Israeli Independence Day, marking the 75th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel. Bronx Borough Hall, located at 851 Grand Concourse, along with other borough-based landmarks was also lit up for the occasion.

Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israeli Day of Independence) marks the day on the Hebrew calendar that corresponds to the day the new State of Israel formally declared its independence in 1948 after the cessation of the British Mandate. It is preceded annually by Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s official memorial day honoring fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism.

 

According to totallyjewishtravel.com, the Jewish population of The Bronx is said to be anywhere between 45,000 and 80,000, the smallest Jewish population across the five boroughs. The Jewish population in the 1940s used to make up nearly 60 percent of the borough’s population, but from that time many Jews moved to more prosperous areas, according to the website. There are around 15 synagogues in The Bronx in several different areas, including five in Riverdale and four near Pelham Parkway in Morris Park. There are also a good number of kosher restaurants in Riverdale as well.

The City of New York launched the Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes (OPHC) in September 2019. OPHC takes a holistic approach to preventing hate crimes, developing and coordinating community-driven prevention strategies to address biases fueling such crimes, and fostering healing for victims and their communities.

 

OPHC coordinates the City’s efforts through an interagency committee consisting of over 20 city agencies and all five District Attorney Hate Crime Units, as well as networks of community-based providers and organizations. It works with partners to develop approaches to preventing hate violence, resources to promote reporting of incidents, and responses for when hate crimes occur.

 

Applications for NYC Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes and The NYC Commission on Human Rights’ “Community Project Grants to Prevent and Address Bias and Hate” for grants of up to $5,000 are now open. Apply here.

On April 25, the New York City Council voted on a resolution recognizing April 29 as “End Jew Hatred Day” annually in the City of New York.

 

District 11 City Councilman Eric Dinowitz, one of the seven council members who voted in favor of the resolution, who is Jewish, and who represents much of the Northwest Bronx, had on April 21 hosted a “Fireside Chat” with other council members including Bronx Council Member Kevin Riley (C.D. 12) which Dinowitz said was focused on the impact of hate crimes on victims’ mental health and the resources available to assist them with the trauma.

 

On Holocaust Remembrance Day, April 18, Dinowitz had said, “Today, on Yom HaShoah, we remember the six million Jewish lives lost during the Holocaust. Antisemitism is a deadly force that must be fought every day. We must stand with our Jewish and non Jewish neighbors to ensure that the atrocities of the Holocaust are never repeated.”

 

A person arrested and charged with a crime is deemed innocent unless and until convicted in a court of law.