Police have arrested one person and are searching for two more after anti-Israel agitators were seen burning U.S. and Israeli flags just outside the Israeli consulate in Manhattan this week.
The New York Police Department (NYPD) confirmed to Fox News Digital that Jaki Lodgeson-McRae, 20, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with endangerment, criminal intimidation, disturbance of the peace and violation of a sidewalk.
“On Wednesday, a mob burned American and Israeli flags outside the Israeli Consulate in New York,” the consulate said in a social media post. “This act demonstrates that hatred of Israel will always be accompanied by anti-American sentiment. The NYPD has increased security around the consulate to ensure the safety of our community.”
Anti-Israel protesters capture University of California administrators, occupy and destroy campus buildings
Police have arrested one person and are searching for two more after anti-Israel agitators were seen burning U.S. and Israeli flags just outside the Israeli consulate in Manhattan this week. (Consulate General of Israel in New York)
NYPD Deputy Commissioner Caz Daughtry called the suspects “cowards” while sharing security camera photos of them on social media on Thursday, adding: “Criminal behavior will never be tolerated in our great city. The NYPD will identify and arrest all of the suspects in their failed attempt to sow fear and discord in a place where mutual respect is the essence of who we are.”
The New York Police Department’s Hate Crimes Unit is investigating the incident.
The NYPD said the suspects used an “unknown accelerant” to burn the flag while standing in the bike lane outside the consulate.
“The flaming flag was a danger to bicyclists who had to leave the bike lane and onto the roadway, and it was also a danger to members of the public on the sidewalk,” the NYPD said.
The flag burning comes amid rising tensions in the Jewish community amid ongoing pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protests and violence in New York and across the United States over the Gaza war.
The reporter recalled being surrounded by anti-Israel thugs, who “punched” him, “shoved him” and “robbed him of his notebook.”
The NYPD confirmed to Fox News Digital that another man, 20-year-old Zudi Ahmed, was arrested Thursday and charged with multiple counts of hate crimes for allegedly hitting a man in the head with a rock at Columbia University in April while carrying a Jewish flag.
Also that same week, anti-Israel vandals threw red paint at the home of a Jewish person working at the Brooklyn Museum.
In a post on the social platform “X,” Mayor Eric Adams shared a photo of the brick building splattered with red paint and a banner hanging in front of its entrance calling museum director Anne Pasternak a “white supremacist Zionist.”
Click here to get the FOX News app
“This is not peaceful protest or free speech,” the mayor wrote. “This is a crime and blatant, unacceptable anti-Semitism. Actions like this have no place in New York City for any reason. I am sorry for Anne Pasternak and the members of the Brooklyn Museum Board of Trustees for waking up to this hatred. I spoke with Anne this morning and promised her that this hatred will not be tolerated in our city. The NYPD is investigating and will bring the perpetrators to justice.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
