A Jewish man has been charged with attempted murder and hate crimes for his role in a months-long campaign of harassment and violence against his Muslim neighbors, authorities said.
According to a criminal complaint filed by the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, Brooklyn resident Isaac Kadosh has been charged with more than 40 counts, including attempted second-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder as a hate crime, first-degree assault as a hate crime, second-degree theft and second-degree theft as a hate crime.
The lawsuit says Kadosh’s attack was motivated by religious and ethnic differences with his neighbors.
According to the criminal complaint, Kadosh told the neighbor that he was going to break into their apartment and kill them because he was Jewish and the neighbor was Muslim.
Kadosh was arrested Saturday, two days after he was accused of breaking into a neighbor’s apartment, destroying items inside, smearing blue paint and oil on the walls and smearing excrement on a Quran, according to the criminal complaint.
That same day, Kadosh struck the neighbor in the head with a mallet, resulting in the neighbor being hospitalized with staples and a chest tube inserted in his head for internal bleeding, according to the lawsuit.
Kadosh pleaded not guilty Monday in Kings County Criminal Court, and bail was set at $25,000 cash or $125,000 surety, according to prosecutors.
A public defender representing Kadosh did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday afternoon.
A neighbor, identified in the complaint as Ahmed Chebira, told The New York Times that the harassment began after he moved into the building in October.
“I told him to leave me alone,” Chebira told The Times on Wednesday. “Everyone has their own religion in America. I don’t have a problem with anyone.”
He said he feared Kadosh would be outside the hospital when he was released and was relieved that he had been arrested.
The complaint details the allegations, which date back to early March, when Kadosh allegedly slashed the tires of a neighbor’s house, poured a white substance over the door, punched the neighbor in the head, threw him to the ground, broke several ribs and threatened his life multiple times, according to the complaint.
New York Governor Kathy Hawkle called the allegations “despicable.”
“Everyone has a right to feel safe in New York, and we will continue to stand up against Islamophobia and all forms of hate,” Hawkle wrote on X. “Hate has no place in our state.”
Since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel and Israel’s subsequent war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the country has seen an increase in anti-Semitic and Islamophobic attacks.
A 22-year-old man was arrested and charged with multiple hate crimes this week after police say he yelled “Free Palestine” near a Brooklyn synagogue and then slashed a Jewish man in the torso.
Madeline Urabe contributed.
