New York, NY, September 21, 2015 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today said it was deeply disturbed by a BB gun assault of two visibly identifiable Jewish men in the Kew Gardens neighborhood of Queens around the Jewish High Holiday period.

According to reports, on two different occasions, men wearing traditional Jewish garb were shot by assailants wielding a BB gun. The most recent victim was attacked on September 18.

“If the reports are accurate, these incidents are deeply disturbing because of their violent nature, and the fact that they took place during one the holiest times of the Jewish year,” said Evan R. Bernstein, ADL New York Regional Director. “We have witnessed other recent troubling incidents which have singled out Jews for violence across the city, particularly in Brooklyn, and continue to urge community leaders to make their voices heard in condemning such acts.”

A presumably unrelated anti-Semitic incident took place just days later on the campus of Fordham University on September 20 where a swastika and a racial slur were found inside of a residence hall. ADL said it was pleased that the institution is swiftly addressing the troubling events.

According to the ADL’s annual Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents, which tracks both criminal and non-criminal acts of anti-Semitism, New York State experienced a 14 percent increase in anti-Semitic incidents in 2014, including 18 incidents Queens and 6 in the Bronx.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world’s leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.  Follow us on Twitter: @ADL_NY