Arutz Sheva’s New York correspondent spoke to author Yossi Gestetner, who addressed the burning of mezuzot in an apartment building in Brooklyn this week.
11 mezuzot were burned in Brooklyn on Monday, as Jews around the world marked Yom Hashoah, the Holocaust Remembrance Day. Police have arrested Ruben Ubiles, 35, who they said has more than 50 prior arrests, as a suspect in the act.
Gestetner told Arutz Sheva that while there have been incidents of vandalism in Brooklyn, this incident was unprecedented and he could not recall a similar one occurring in recent years.
“Sometimes there are anti-Semitic acts, sometimes there are people who are lawless and do crazy stuff, not necessarily because of anti-Semitism but because they are violent or criminal,” he said, noting that the suspect who was arrested may not have done what he did because of anti-Semitism.
“Maybe he’s just a low-life of a wise guy who doesn’t what to do with his day, and every other week he does something else criminal,” said Gestetner.
Gestetner praised the work of the New York Police Department in apprehending vandals, saying, “We have a very strong response from the police department as well as from elected officials.”
“Within minutes of this report coming in, dozens of officers descended onto the area to try to figure out who may be behind this sickening act, and the police department apprehended this guy at most 48 hours later.”