A stranger snarled, \u201cF\u2013k Jews\u201d and pummeled a rabbi heading to his synagogue in Queens on Holocaust Remembrance Day, police and prosecutors said Wednesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The victim \u2013 a 32-year-old yarmulke-wearing rabbi in the Bukharian Jewish community \u2013 was walking at the intersection of Queens Boulevard and 71st Avenue around 3 p.m. Tuesday when the menace approached him and spewed the antisemitic vitriol, authorities said. <\/p>\n
That sparked a dispute between the rabbi \u2013 who sources say was on the way to his house of worship \u2013 and the vile pedestrian, according to police and the Queens District Attorney\u2019s Office.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The yarmulke-wearing rabbi was walking at the intersection of Queens Boulevard and 71st Avenue around 3 p.m. when the menace approached him and sneered, \u201cF\u2013k Jews!\u201d prosecutors said. Shomrim Queens Safety Patrol<\/p>\n
Tensions peaked when the crazed stranger punched the religious leader in the chest and face, knocking him to the ground, cops and prosecutors said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The victim was treated at the scene for minor injuries, police said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Quick-responding cops \u2014 with the help of the Shomrim Queens Safety Patrol<\/a> \u2014 arrested the alleged attacker, identified as Eric Zafra-Grosso, 32, at the nearby Forest Hills-71st Continental Avenue subway station, the DA\u2019s office said.\u00a0<\/p>\n He was charged with two counts of assault \u2013 one as a hate crime \u2013 as well as aggravated harassment, prosecutors said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The complete stranger punched the religious leader in the chest and face, authorities said. Shomrim Queens<\/p>\n Zafra-Grosso, who cops said had no prior arrests, was granted supervised release during his Wednesday arraignment before Judge Sharifa Nasser-Cuellar \u2014 over prosecutors\u2019 request that he be held on $40,000 bail.\u00a0<\/p>\n He was due back in court March 16 and could spend up to four years in prison if convicted of the top charge.<\/p>\n \u201cAnti-Jewish hate crimes account for far too many bias-motivated incidents across our city, and my office will use every tool at its disposal to hold perpetrators accountable,\u201d Queens DA Melinda Katz said in a statement. <\/p>\n \u201cWe will continue working with our communities to ensure Queens remains a place where everyone can live openly and without fear.\u201d<\/p>\n The broad-daylight attack drew swift rebuke<\/a> from several local elected officials \u2013 Rep. Grace Meng, State Sens. Joe Addabbo and Leroy Comrie and Assemblymembers Andrew Hevesi and Sam Berger.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are outraged by the anti-Semitic attack that occurred in our district, in which a Rabbi was verbally harassed, physically assaulted, and threatened for being Jewish,\u201d they wrote in a joint statement. \u201cThis was a targeted act of hate, and it has no place in our community or anywhere in New York City.\u201d<\/p>\n Eric Zafra-Grosso, 32, was arrested and charged with hate crime assault, prosecutors said. Shomrim Queens<\/p>\n