16 August 2024: A Jewish man is charged with attempted murder and hate crimes in connection with a months-long harassment and violence campaign against a neighbour who is Muslim, authorities said, reports The New York Times.
Izak Kadosh, of Brooklyn, is charged with more than 40 counts, including second-degree attempted murder, second-degree attempted murder as a hate crime, first-degree assault as a hate crime, second-degree burglary and second-degree burglary as a hate crime, according to a criminal complaint from the Brooklyn district attorney’s office.
The motivation behind Kadosh’s attacks is his religious and ethnic differences with his neighbour, according to the complaint.
Kadosh told his neighbour that he would break into his apartment and kill him because Kadosh is Jewish and his neighbour is Muslim, the complaint says.
Kadosh was arrested Saturday, two days after he was accused of breaking into his neighbor’s apartment, destroying items inside, covering walls with blue paint and oil and smearing a Quran with feces, the complaint said.
The same day, Kadosh also struck his neighbour in the head with a mallet, causing him to be hospitalized and to get staples in his head and a chest tube because of internal bleeding, the complaint says.
Kadosh pleaded not guilty Monday in Kings County Criminal Court. Bail was set at $25,000 cash or $125,000 bond, prosecutors said.
The neighbour, identified in the complaint as Ahmed Chebira, told The New York Times that the harassment started after he moved into the building in October.
