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Middle East Eye
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
New York City mayor investigating pro-Israeli mob attack on women
New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced on Sunday that he has launched an investigation into two physical attacks by a pro-Israeli mob that took place as Israel's far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, visited a city neighbourhood last week. "The NYPD is investigating a series of incidents stemming from clashing protests on Thursday that began when a group of anti-Israel protesters surrounded the Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters - a Jewish house of worship - in Brooklyn," Adams wrote on X, referencing the only venue that agreed to host Ben Gvir in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, a New York City borough. "Initial reports indicate that one female protester was isolated from her group, harassed by counter-protesters, and suffered injuries. In another incident, a second woman was surrounded and subjected to vile threatening by counter-protesters," he wrote. Adams did not specify that the attacks were from a pro-Israel crowd, and repeatedly called them "counter-protesters". "While one arrest was made and several summonses issued, we are actively working to identify additional individuals involved in these specific incidents," he added. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Videos shared online show a female protester having her Palestinian flag snatched away before she is violently shoved to the side. Later videos show her on the ground as she bleeds from the head. Police did not appear to intervene. Some witnesses posting on social media said she was attacked with a brick. The woman reportedly took to Instagram, where she identified herself as an anti-Zionist Jew with an Israeli passport, as she displayed the injuries to her face. 'The only thing that gives me some joy is that while all the zios were celebrating and laughing at me im over here thinking yall hit a Jew w. a damn israhelli passport!!! great job," she wrote. 'the only thing that gives me some joy is that while all the zios were celebrating and laughing at me im over here thinking yall hit a Jew w. a damn israhelli passport!!! great job' A NY woman shares on Instagram in a post that she is Jewish and has an Israeli passport and was… — Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) April 26, 2025 The second female referenced by Adams turned out to be a passerby who lives in the neighbourhood, according to a report in the Associated Press. She was surrounded by 100 men, all part of the pro-Israel crowd, who threatened to rape her before following her down the street as they chanted, "Death to Arabs," repeatedly, she told the AP. J Street, a left-leaning pro-Israel think tank, condemned the incident and said the "grotesque behavior is a direct result of the hatred, violence and impunity modeled by leaders like Ben-Gvir". This mob intimidation of a passerby near an anti-Ben-Gvir protest is repulsive. Such grotesque behavior is a direct result of the hatred, violence and impunity modeled by leaders like Ben-Gvir. Our entire community must condemn this harassment and those who incite such attacks. — J Street (@jstreetdotorg) April 28, 2025 "I commend the NYPD officers who handled this dangerous situation with professionalism and restraint," the mayor said in his statement on X. Nerdeen Kiswani, the founder of the pro-Palestine movement, Within Our Lifetime, said the police were part of the problem. " The NYPD allowed the violence to unfold, even escalating it by siding with the attackers. The assault was not just 'harassment' it was a brutal and coordinated attack against anyone opposing genocide," she said. " The mayor's failure to mention Ben Gvir or his role in provoking this violence is exactly why these Zionist mobs are emboldened." The far-right Israeli national security minister was on the US east coast for a week-long visit which included appearances at Chabad-Lubavitch in New York, Yale University in Connecticut, and US President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, where he said he met with "senior Republicans" who agreed with him that Gaza should be entirely bombed. No US government official is known to have met with him, and several Jewish establishments refused to host his speaking engagements due to his staunch opposition to a ceasefire and captive-swap deal in Gaza, as well as his far-right, anti-Arab ideology that liberal Zionists consider undemocratic. Ben Gvir was sidelined and unwelcome by the Biden administration when it also sanctioned several extremist Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank. When Trump came into office, he reversed those policies. New York Congressman Jerry Nadler, a Democrat and vocal pro-Israel lawmaker, denounced Ben Gvir as a "racist, terrorist, Jewish supremacist'.
Boston Globe
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Mob chased Brooklyn woman after mistaking her for protester at speech by Israeli security minister
Advertisement 'As soon as I pulled up my scarf, a group of 100 men came over immediately and encircled me,' said the woman, who spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity because she feared for her safety. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'I had nowhere to go' 'They were shouting at me, threatening to rape me, chanting 'death to Arabs.' I thought the police would protect me from the mob, but they did nothing to intervene,' she said. As the chants grew in intensity, a lone police officer tried to escort her to safety. They were followed for blocks by hundreds of men and boys jeering in Hebrew and English. Video shows two of the men kicking her in the back, another hurling a traffic cone into her head and a fourth pushing a trash can into her. Advertisement 'This is America,' one of the men can be heard saying. 'We got Israel. We got an Army now.' At one point, she and the police officer were nearly cornered against a building, the video shows. 'I felt sheer terror,' the woman recalled. 'I realized at that point that I couldn't lead this mob of men to my home. I had nowhere to go. I didn't know what to do. I was just terrified.' After several blocks, the officer hustled the woman into a police vehicle, prompting one man to yell, 'Get her!' The crowd erupted in cheers as she was driven away. The woman, a lifelong New Yorker, said she was left with bruises and mentally shaken by the episode, which she said police should investigate as an act of hate. 'I'm afraid to move around the neighborhood where I've lived for a decade,' she told the AP. 'It doesn't seem like anyone in any position of power really cares.' Police investigating A police spokesperson said one person was arrested and five others were issued summons following the demonstration, but did not say whether anyone involved in assaulting the woman was charged. Mayor Eric Adams said Sunday that police were investigating 'a series of incidents stemming from clashing protests on Thursday that began when a group of anti-Israel protesters surrounded the Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters — a Jewish house of worship — in Brooklyn.' He said police had spoken to a different woman on the pro-Palestinian side of the protest who suffered injuries after she was harassed by counter-protesters. Photos shared online showed that woman with blood streaming down her face. 'Let me be clear: None of this is acceptable, in fact, it is despicable,' Adams added. 'New York City will always be a place where people can peacefully protest, but we will not tolerate violence, trespassing, menacing, or threatening.' Advertisement The protest was one of several in recent days against Ben-Gvir, an ultranationalist settler leader who is embarking on his first U.S. state visit since joining Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet three years ago. Previously convicted in Israel of racist incitement and support for a terrorist group, he has called on his supporters to confront Palestinians and assert 'Jewish Power.' The protest against Ben-Gvir's Brooklyn appearance generated condemnations from some Jewish groups, who Chabad-Lubavitch denounces incident The neighborhood around the Chabad headquarters also was the site of the 1991 Crown Heights riot, in which Black residents outraged by boy's death in a crash involving a rabbi's motorcade attacked Jews, homes and businesses for three days. A Chabad-Lubavitch spokesman, Rabbi Motti Seligson, denounced both the anti-Ben-Gvir protesters and the mob that chased the woman. 'The violent provocateurs who called for the genocide of Jews in support of terrorists and terrorism — outside a synagogue, in a Jewish neighborhood, where some of the worst antisemitic violence in American history was perpetrated, and where many residents share deep bonds with the victims of Oct 7 — did so in order to intimidate, provoke, and instill fear,' Seligson said. 'We condemn the crude language and violence of the small breakaway group of young people; such actions are entirely unacceptable and wholly antithetical to the Torah's values. The fact that a possibly uninvolved bystander got pulled into the melee further underscores the point,' he said. Advertisement
