FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Wednesday, September 25, 2019
LGBTQI+ Jews Assaulted by Far-Right Extremists Outside New York’s City Hall As “Rally against Anti-Semitism” Goes Off the Rails
Outrage in NY Jewish community in the wake of Sunday’s assaults at City Hall, Tuesday’s anti-Semitic speech by Trump at the UN
Media Contacts:
Andrew Silver: 646-664-7932
Rachel Glick: americansagainstantisemitism@riseup.net
Twitter: @MINYAN2019
Hashtags: #AmericansAgainstAntisemitism #JewishSolidarity
Footage: On Twitter, to be uploaded here soon
Website: https://americansagainstantisemitism.noblogs.org/
NEW YORK CITY –
Video evidence of the below claims are posted here and further available upon request.
Amid growing condemnation of Trump’s latest anti-Semitic tropes, outrage is also growing within the Jewish community over several incidents of mob violence against LGBTQI+ Jews that were caught on video Sunday.
A so-called “Rally Against Anti-Semitism” turned into a Trump rally, complete with calls from the stage and from the crowd for violence against gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender/gender-non-conforming Jews who dared to claim a section of the public sidewalk.
Approximately 10 young LGBTQI+ Jews showed up to protest anti-Semitism, nationalism, and Islamophobia Sunday and were met with physical, sexual, and verbal aggression by members of groups like Yad Yamin, formerly known as the Jewish Defense League.
The assaults transpired in broad daylight, under the auspices of organizations such as the Zionist Organization of America and in full view of the NYPD. The crowd was egged on by speakers such as Sid Rosenberg, a radio host on WABC 770, who said from the stage, “It takes all of my guts not to walk out into the middle of the crowd, and beat the living daylights out of these folks [gesturing at a Jewish trans woman]… I’m looking at one right now… Believe it… I WILL KICK YOUR ASS!”
Three attendees were physically assaulted — choked, punched, shoved, tackled — and at least five were forcibly ejected by the NYPD, to whom they were identified by the assailants. A Jewish trans woman was threatened with murder by a member of Yad Yamin, who was caught on camera saying, “im a licensed gun owner. Do you want a bullet in the fucking head?” Other Jewish women were bombarded with degrading, misogynistic insults – all while white men like Rosenberg, Morton Klein, and former Assemblyman Hikind stoked the flames of racist incitement from the stage, with rhetoric reminiscent of the Crown Heights riots of 1991. Conspicuously absent from the crowd were the Hasidic Jews on whose behalf the rally was supposedly called, not to mention the more than 1 in 4 New York City Jews who are people of color.
“At a time when hate crimes are on the rise and white nationalists are actively recruiting in all five boroughs of NYC, far-right Jews are turning their sights on other Jews, all the while making common cause with President Trump and other white nationalists, including individuals and organizations that explicitly call for our extermination as a people,” said Moishe Ben-Zev, an antiracist organizer from the Upper West Side. “Our ancestors are rolling in their mass graves.”
“The rally, allegedly against anti-Semitism, did not mention synagogue massacres or Nazis,” noted artist and author Molly Crabapple, who saw the footage and first reported on the events. “Instead it sought to blame Black people, Latinxs, Ilhan Omar, and AOC. Members of the JDL, an FBI designated terrorist group, were in attendance.”
“They called this demonstration ‘Name It to Fight It!’ — well, we’ve been naming it for years, but when Jews like us are attacked by white nationalists and anti-Semites, these politicians are nowhere to be found. They don’t really care about us, and they don’t speak for us,” said Rachel Glick, a native of Queens and a member of her local synagogue.
“We will not be divided, we will not be distracted,” Glick continued. “We will not stop the scapegoating of Jews by scapegoating our neighbors.”
The victims of Sunday’s violence are calling for the following steps to repair the harm that has been done to our communities:
- A public retraction of the blood libel leveled against Black, Muslim, and Latinx people from the podium: stop scapegoating our families, friends, neighbors, and colleagues!
- A public apology from the organizers to the Jewish Americans who were assaulted today: stop inciting violence against Jews in the streets of our city!
- Immediate cancellation of Assemblyman Dov Hikind’s weekly radio hour on WSNR 620 AM, and of “Shock Jock” Sid Rosenberg’s show on WABC 770 AM!
- Resignation of Chaim Deutsch and Kalman Yeger from the New York City Council: They do not represent us. They have failed to protect us.
- Twitter, Facebook, and other private entities to stop giving a platform to those who incite violence against Jews, Muslims, and Americans of color, and to stop silencing those who oppose them/those who stand in their way.