DC police investigate attack as anti-Jewish hate crime – NBC4 Washington

Washington, DC police are investigating a brutal attack in Foggy Bottom as a hate crime.

“The children of Gaza. The children of Palestine. We know! We know who you are!” the suspect said in custody in a video recorded by the victim, whose hands were still shaking after the attack.

Ariel Golfeyz, 31, told police he was suddenly ambushed by the man as he was walking to the Foggy Bottom subway station on his way to work shortly after 8 a.m. Wednesday.

“I just see a fist, and then when I see the fist, I hear a sound, and the sound is just coming from your jaw making all the noise,” he said.

Golfeyz said his attacker knocked him to the ground and repeatedly punched him while shouting anti-Semitic statements about the war in Gaza and calling him a murderer.

Golfeyz, who is Jewish, said he was wearing a kippah.

A security guard at George Washington University Hospital intervened and detained the attacker on a bench in the park until Washington, D.C. police arrived, court documents show.

Walter James, 38, was charged with simple assault motivated by hate or prejudice, court documents say.

Golfeys, who suffered cuts and bruises in the attack, said the shocking, random attack made him rethink his safety considerations.

“I was telling some friends yesterday that because of current events, I don’t think it’s safe to wear a kippah or anything like that in public in Washington, DC,” he said.

Last Friday, James was arrested for entering an unauthorized area outside the U.S. Capitol and engaging in a confrontation with police officers who attempted to arrest him. It is unclear what happened during his court appearance for that crime and why he was released.

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