Farrukh Abadi
On Thursday (04/24), a swarm of Zionists assaulted a woman in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY as she walked home alone with a police escort. A video posted on social media shows the crowd chanting “death to Arabs” and making threats to rape her as they threw objects at her head, including a traffic cone. The police escort failed to stop the violence and did not conduct any arrests as the crowd attacked her. According to the account that posted the video, the woman was not a protester but had been walking in the area and put on a scarf around her face when the mob began recording her.
Similar scenes unfolded in other parts of the neighborhood in the aftermath of a protest against Israel’s genocidal national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who is currently on a week-long tour of the US. Ben Gvir had been giving a speech that night at the world headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement in Crown Heights, one of the largest Jewish religious organizations. The Zionist mob also targeted anti-Zionist Orthodox Jews, with at least one being kicked and beaten by the crowd.
During his speech, Ben Gvir bragged about creating over 1,000 IDF Rapid Response Units and increasing the number of civilian firearm permits from an average of 8,000 a year to 200,000 a year. He complained about the “deep state” in Israel, referencing how the attorney general stated that Palestinian prisoners must at minimum be given fruit once a day for their meal. “We thought, what fruit are we going to give to them?” Ben Gvir recounted to the audience, which erupted in laughter. “Let’s give every Arab [prisoner] a lemon everyday. Then we remembered the Arabs actually like a lot of lemon on their salads…. Okay, we’ll give them all one carrot once a day.”
Outside, hundreds of protesters gathered, chanting “Judaism yes, Zionism no! The State of Israel must go!” and “Ben Gvir, go to hell, it is right to rebel!” Fascist supporters of Ben Gvir assaulted and harassed protesters, throwing objects at them and shouting “send them to Gaza!” as the police stood by. Videos show at least one protester bleeding across the face. Protesters attempted to defend themselves, and monopoly media cites demonstrators throwing water bottles at Ben Gvir outside the venue. Only one person was arrested despite the Zionists openly attacking the protesters.
New York Republican Representative Elise Stefanik accused the pro-Palestine protesters of “heinous violence” and called for “an immediate federal investigation into these dangerous organizations and their funding networks.”
Ben Gvir is currently on a week-long tour of the US, which began with a meeting with Republican Party officials on Monday at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. He later wrote that the Republicans “expressed support for my very clear position on how to act in Gaza and that the food and aid depots should be bombed in order to create military and political pressure to bring our hostages home safely.”
Afterwards, he delivered a speech at Yale University in Connecticut, where students erected an encampment in protest of his visit. Yale responded by revoking recognition of a student group they claimed to be involved, which the federal Task Force to Combat Antisemitism accused of “outrageous examples of harassment and bigotry”. Meanwhile, Ben Gvir has been convicted in Israel of supporting a terrorist organization and inciting racism.
Since Thursday, several scheduled events for Ben Gvir have been canceled by their hosts. On Sunday, he was again protested in Brooklyn while attending a private party.
Photo: Zionists chase and assault a woman after Ben Gvir’s speech on Thursday. Source: Subwaydj on Instagram.
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