There may be hope yet. This story (via Howard at Kesher Talk) is about the proactive prevention of a hate crime (or what sure appears to have been intended as a hate crime). Syed Ali, 35, was working at the Amoco station on Ocean Ave. in Sheepshead Bay at about 4 a.m. when he sold $2 worth of fuel to the alleged would-be arsonist. The Pakistani immigrant said he watched in disbelief as Sead Jakup, 22, took the canister across the street and began dousing the Young Israel of Kings Bay synagogue. Ali quickly called 911, and cops arrived before Jakup, a Bosnian Muslim, could set the temple ablaze. "Mr. Ali saved the shul [synagogue]," said Allen Popper, president of the synagogue. "He's a hero."A Muslim gas station attendant was being hailed as a hero for saving a Brooklyn synagogue yesterday from being torched by a man he described as "totally out of control."
A hero, indeed. Kudos to Mr. Ali. I do hope he's hailed as a hero in his own community, as well.
Meanwhile, She said that on the day Jakup lost his job, he smashed his sister's TV and VCR. "It's not about religion," Popinara said of yesterday's incident at the synagogue. "He just flipped."A relative, Haji Popinara, 34, said Jakup - who lives with his father and sister four blocks from the synagogue - is mentally disturbed.
