Jewish man in New York accused of harassing Muslim neighbor for months, trying to kill him

A Jewish man is charged with attempted murder and hate crimes in connection with a monthslong harassment and violence campaign against a neighbor who is Muslim, authorities said.

Izak Kadosh of Brooklyn is charged with more than 40 crimes 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 neighbor, according to the complaint.

Kadosh told his neighbor that he would break into his apartment and kill the neighbor because Kadosh is Jewish and his neighbor is Muslim, the complaint said.

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.

That same day, Kadosh also struck his neighbor 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 said.

Kadosh pleaded not guilty Monday in Kings County Criminal Court. Bail was set at $25,000 cash or $125,000 bond, prosecutors said.

A public defender representing Kadosh did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday afternoon.

The neighbor, identified in the complaint as Ahmed Chebira, told the New York Times the harassment started after he moved into the building in October.

“I told him, 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 discharged and was relieved he had been arrested.

The complaint details allegations dating back to early March. Kadosh is accused of slashing his neighbor’s tires, pouring a white substance on his door, punching him in the head and pushing him to the ground, breaking several of his ribs, and repeatedly threatening his neighbor’s life, according to the complaint.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul called the allegations “despicable.”

“Everyone deserves to feel safe in New York, and we will continue to stand up to Islamophobia and all forms of hate,” Hochul wrote on X. “Hate has no place in our state.”

Antisemitic and Islamophobic attacks have increased in the country in the months following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and Israel’s subsequent war on Hamas in Gaza.

Earlier this week, a 22-year-old man was arrested and charged with multiple hate crimes after police said he yelled “Free Palestine” before he slashed a Jewish man in the torso near a synagogue in Brooklyn.