An antisemitic stranger snarled “Hitler was right” before spitting in a man’s face on the Upper East Side in broad daylight, cops said.
The hateful attacker approached the 65-year-old victim as he walked at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and East 68th Street around 4:10 p.m. July 27, authorities said.
“Should I slap you or punch you?” the bigot threatened the victim, callously adding, “Hitler was right,” police said.
He then pulled down the victim’s face mask and spat in his face, cops said.
The assailant fled toward Madison Avenue, authorities said.
Video released by the NYPD late Tuesday shows the still-at-large menace — described as having a medium complexion, last seen wearing black pants, a black hat and a multicolored shirt — strolling down the street.
The victim did not report any physical injuries.
The NYPD’s Hate Crime Task Force is investigating the incident, cops said.
In July alone, the task force investigated 30 anti-Jewish offenses, compared to only 10 during the same period last year, according to data released in early August.
One of them was the Central Park attack on 70-year-old former journalist Allan Ripp — who was called a “f–king Jew pig” and assailed with punches by a Citi Bike-riding offender, according to cops and the victim.
Antisemitic hate crimes made up the majority of the 52 bias offenses investigated by the department last month, the data show. The NYPD probed 48 hate crimes in July 2023.
Anyone with information on the latest crime is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/, or on Twitter @NYPDTips.
