Crowd pursues female resident of Brooklyn following misunderstanding of her identity as demonstrator during speech by Israeli security official
A Brooklyn gal felt her life was in danger when she was pursued, physically abused, verbally assaulted, and pelted with objects by a swarm of Orthodox Jewish men who wrongly identified her as a contributor to a demonstration against Israel's extremist security minister.
Caught on camera, this chaotic scene played out last Thursday in the vicinity of the global headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement in Crown Heights, where a visit by Itamar Ben-Gvir ignited confrontations between pro-Palestinian advocates and residents of the Orthodox Jewish community [1][3][4].
The victim, a 30-year-old local dweller, stated she became aware of the protest after hearing police helicopters overhead. Upon venturing out to examine the situation around 10:30 p.m., she found that the protest had mostly subsided. To keep herself hidden from the cameras, she wrapped a scarf around her face.
"As soon as I pulled down my scarf, a throng of about 100 men converged on me immediately," the woman shared with The Associated Press, speaking under the condition of anonymity due to her apprehensions for her safety.
"I Had Nowhere to Go"
"They were yelling at me, making threats, and chanting 'death to Arabs.' I thought the police would stop this mob, but they didn't intervene in any way," she stated [1].
As the crowd's jeers grew louder, a solitary officer tried to escort her to safety. They were followed for blocks by hundreds of men and boys yelling in both Hebrew and English.
The video captures two men kicking her, another heaving a traffic cone at her head, and a fourth pushing a trash can into her.
"This is America," one of the men could be heard saying. "We have Israel. We have an Army now."
At one point, the woman and the police officer were nearly cornered against a building, as depicted in the video [4].
"I felt sheer terror," the woman remembered. "I realized then that I couldn't direct this mob of men to my home. I had nowhere to go. I didn't know what to do. I was just petrified."
In time, the officer managed to hustle the woman into a police vehicle, prompting one man to shout, "Get her!" The crowd erupted in cheers as she was driven away.
The woman, a long-term New Yorker, said she ended up with bruises and was left mentally shaken by the experience, which she described as a hate crime [1].
"I'm afraid to traverse the neighborhood where I've resided for a decade," she told the AP. "It doesn't seem like anyone in any position of power really cares."
Investigating the Incident
A police spokesperson reported that one individual was arrested and five others were given summonses following the ruckus, yet did not specify whether anyone involved in the assault of the woman was charged [4].
On Sunday, Mayor Eric Adams commented that the police were looking into "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 also acknowledged speaking to a different woman from the pro-Palestinian side of the protest, who had sustained injuries due to harassment by counterprotestors. Photographs shared online showed her with blood streaming down her face [2].
"Let me make it clear: This isn't acceptable – in fact, it's repugnant," Adams added. "New York City will always be a place where people can peacefully protest, but we will not tolerate violence, trespassing, antagonizing, or intimidation."
The protest was one of several in recent days against Ben-Gvir, an aggressive settler leader who has been part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet for three years [3]. Previously convicted for racist incitement and supporting a terrorist group, he has encouraged his followers to confront Palestinians and declare "Jewish Power" [3].
Criticism towards the demonstration came from some Jewish groups, who accused participants of targeting a religious site.
Chabad-Lubavitch Condemns the Incident
The area around the Chabad headquarters also witnessed the 1991 Crown Heights riot, where Black residents, incensed by a boy's death in a crash involving a rabbi's motorcade, attacked Jews, homes, and businesses for three consecutive days [5].
A Chabad-Lubavitch representative, Rabbi Motti Seligson, condemned both the anti-Ben-Gvir protesters and the mob accountable for assailing the woman.
"The violent provocateurs who promoted genocide against Jews in support of terrorism – outside a synagogue in a Jewish neighborhood, where some of the worst acts of antisemitism in American history took place, and where many residents share connections with the victims of Oct. 7 – intended to instill fear," Seligson said.
"We denounce the crude language and violence of the small band of youngsters; such actions are unacceptable and stand in direct opposition to the Torah's teachings. The fact that an innocent bystander was drawn into the fracas serves as additional evidence that this group lacks all semblance of morality," he added [2][5].
- Activists protesting against Israel's extremist security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, have faced intense backlash, as demonstrated by the assault on a local woman by a mob of Lubavitch activists.
- The worst part of the incident occurred when the woman, a Brooklyn resident, was physically abused, pelted with objects, and threatened with death, asserting that the police did not intervene to stop the crime-and-justice.
- The assault on the woman, which has been described as a hate crime, has sparked concerns about general-news and politics in America, as it calls into question the safety of activists and the response of law enforcement.
- In the wake of this incident,Chabad-Lubavitch has expressed condemnation of the behavior exhibited by both the protesters and the mob, asserting that such actions stand in direct opposition to the Torah's teachings and have no place in a democratic society.
