(NewsSpace.com) – Since the Israel-Hamas war began back in October, tensions have escalated, not just in Gaza and Israel, but also in the United States. There have been multiple protests across the nation for both sides. Now, one Jewish woman whose family was attacked at a recent event is asking authorities to slap a hate crime designation on the incident.
The incident occurred in Brooklyn, at PS 682 elementary school in Gravesend, following the fifth-grade graduation. A Jewish woman, identified only as Lana, says she and her family were attacked by an Arabic-speaking family that spewed messages such as “Gaza is ours!” and “Death to Israel,” according to a statement she made to the New York Post.
The woman said it started with Lana’s mother walking out after seeing a fifth-grade student walk across the stage with “Free Palestine” on his graduation cap and escalated from there. The family was taking pictures instead of a banner when the family of the boy with the cap pushed them out of the way. At one point, the other family threw her husband to the ground and put him in a chokehold, while others assaulted him with punches and kicks. She says the people attacked her, too, and only “targeted [her] family because [they] are Jewish.”
An advocate and city educator, Tova Plaut, said it was one of the worst displays of anti-Semitism in the city’s public schools because it went beyond words and escalated into violence.
The family spoke to the NYPD, who refused to classify the incident as a hate crime. But after Lana and her husband urged authorities to reconsider, a spokesperson said, “the Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating.” Police did make one arrest in the case: that of 26-year-old Ez-Al Dean Bazar. The Department of Education spokesman, Nathaniel Styer, placed blame on both families and said the DOE is “still investigating the matter.”
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