A man allegedly walked into Lubavitch World Headquarters in Crown Heights and threatened to shoot up the building, marking the seventh anti-Semitic attack reported in New York City this week. The suspect, who was wearing a hoodie, reportedly walked away in the direction of the Utica Avenue subway station after the incident. Police have not yet arrested him. A 30-year-old woman was also arrested for allegedly harassing and slapping a group of three women on Friday on Kingston Avenue in Crown Heights. On Thursday afternoon, a 34-year-old Jewish woman was called an anti-Semitic slur and then hit on the head with a bag by a 43-year-old woman while she was walking with her son in Brooklyn, according to police. The New York City Police Department said it is increasing the number of officers in Borough Park, Crown Heights, and Williamsburg in response to the incidents. The attacks this week follow a massacre earlier this month inside a New Jersey kosher supermarket that left four people dead. 

“The overall Jewish community was reeling from what happened in Jersey City. Now to have to deal with this during the holiday season-during Hanukkah is so difficult,” said Evan Bernstein, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League. “I’ve already been in contact with a lot of Jewish leaders in the region and they’re telling me just how fearful their constituents and congregants are.” There has been a 53 percent increase in anti-Semitic hate crimes in New York City in 2019 compared to last year, according to ABC News.