A man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison on Friday for a violent attack on four Jewish teenagers in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
The attack occurred during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.
The teenagers, dressed in traditional attire for the celebration, were walking along a road when 19-year-old Noah Amato, accompanied by a friend, hurled a slur at the group before escalating the confrontation.
He struck one of the teenagers, Zalman Barrocas, in the face with a handgun and then fired the weapon near the boy’s head, causing burns to his face.
Amato concedes his intoxication, admitting he’d consumed an entire bottle of liquor and some Percocets before the attack.
A group of young men celebrating Sukkot a weeklong Jewish holiday that celebrates the fall harvest, in The Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters, Brooklyn, New York, May 10, 2023. The victims of the attack were said to have been walking in the Ponte Vedra Beach area of Florida wearing traditional attire to celebrate Sukkot when they were accosted.
NIKITA PAYUSOV/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images
“I believe this man should have the maximum punishment,” Barrocas said in testimony during the sentencing hearing.
“My life could have been over that day,” he continued, expressing his gratitude for surviving the ordeal.
He also called for justice, emphasizing that such acts of violence should never be tolerated in a society that values safety and inclusivity.
His uncle, Rabbi Nochum Kurinsky, voiced the family’s frustration over the lack of hate crime charges, arguing that the attack was motivated by prejudice against the Jewish community.
Florida has specific hate crime laws that enhance penalties for crimes motivated by bias, including those based on religion. However, in this case, no hate crime charges were filed against Amato.
Amato’s attorney contested parts of the official account, suggesting that the altercation began with a verbal exchange and that Barrocas had pushed Amato first.
However, this argument did little to mitigate the severity of the charges.
Court records reveal that over 30 letters were submitted to the judge from the local Jewish community, detailing the impact of Amato’s actions on their feelings of community and safety.
The judge ultimately sentenced Amato to a decade behind bars, a punishment that includes time for fleeing police and reckless driving in a separate 2023 incident.
He faced a sentence ranging from a minimum of 25 months to a maximum of 25 years or more.
Members of the religious group Neturei Karta, who oppose Zionism, stand and protest outside the Shine A Light On Antisemitism event in Times Square, New York, NY, December 19, 2022. The FBI’s 2021 hate crime statistics revealed that over half of religious-based hate crimes targeted Jewish people, despite only making up 2% of the population.
Anthony Behar/Sipa USA via AP Images
Though it wasn’t prosecuted as such, this case has drawn attention to the ongoing issue of antisemitism in the United States, where Jewish communities have reported a rise in hate crimes in recent years.
According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), antisemitic incidents reached an all-time high in 2022, with more than 2,700 cases reported nationwide.
The FBI‘s 2021 hate crime statistics revealed that 51 percent of religious-based hate crimes targeted Jewish people.
On the witness stand, Amato expressed remorse for his actions.
He apologized to the victims and their families, stating, “I take 100 percent responsibility for the heinous crime I committed.”
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.
