Police said they responded around 8:40 p.m. on Monday to a 911 call of an assault inside a southbound No. 3 train at the Nostrand Avenue subway station in Brooklyn.
Two men in their early 20s said they were approached by two unidentified individuals who started yelling, grabbed them by their jackets and made verbal threats.
An official says a a group of eight young men who live and study at the Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters on Eastern Parkway were headed back from a Hanukkah celebration in Union Square.
The group got into a dispute with two men at the Franklin Avenue station, where they transferred trains.
Cell phone video circulating on social media appears to capture a man violently grabbing a passenger's jacket and a second suspect hurling threats. What wasn't captured, according to police, were the antisemitic comments the suspects allegedly made toward the victims.
"F-- the jews," one of the men said at one point, according to the official. Then, one of the two suspects allegedly grabbed one of the victims, a young man in his early 20s, by the collar, pointed his finger like he was motioning a gun at his head, and said, "I'll kill you."
The group got off at the Nostrand Avenue station and called police. Nobody was injured during the incident.
The NYPD said they have reviewed videos from the train car and from socialmedia, and based on all of the footage and audio, they do not currently have evidence that this was a bias-based attack. They said it appeared the incident originated over a dispute about seats on the subway.
Officials say there's a person of interest they are looking for in connection to the dispute.
Meanwhile, student residents at the the Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters reacted to the incident.
"First thought it's scary, we're you know traveling in the subway every day here," one man told Eyewitness News.
Those visiting this iconic site this holiday say antisemitism is a growing concern.
"Every day we Jews, we come to expect that something bad is going to happen and our response is always the same. To respond with light, to respond with being more Jewish, more visibly Jewish, proud of Jews. And that's really the only way we can combat it," another man said.
The video captured the attention of officials, with the U.S. Department of Justice promising to investigate. New York City Mayor Eric Adams also took to X, saying in part, "We can never allow such hate and antisemitism to persist in our city."
The alleged assault comes on the heels of a mass shooting in Bondi Beach in Australia that targeted a Jewish event on the first night of Hanukkah. Official say 15 people were killed and dozens of others were injured.
Back in Brooklyn, where that tragedy also hits close to home, the Jewish community is hoping to spread the message of Hanukkah.
"To stand up even stronger, to stand up even taller, to stand up even prouder. To bring more light, to bring more warmth, to bring more holiness to the world," one community member said.
MTA officials also put out a statement saying this apparent hate crime has no place on the subway or anywhere.
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