A Jewish mother who claims she and her family were attacked at a fifth grade commencement ceremony in New York by an Arab family shouting “free Palestine” is asking police to classify it as a hate crime, the New York Post reported Sunday.
The woman told the Post the attack happened at PS 682 in Brooklyn as her family was taking pictures after the ceremony.
“They targeted my family because we are Jewish,” the mother told the Post, adding her 10-year-old twins witnessed the assaults.
One arrest was made.
The woman told the Post her husband, a Dominican who is Roman Catholic, was sucker-punched by a member of the Arab-speaking family, and her 16-year-old son suffered a bloody nose when he tried to help his father.
The woman, identified as Lana, said the Arab family, whose son was allowed to display “free Palestine” on his graduation cap, tried to push them out of the way while taking photos, she told the Post.
“We told them there was space for both families,” Lana said. “An older man turned to us and said, ‘Free Palestine!’ for no reason. My husband told him this was not the time or place for that but the man cursed at him in Arabic, and shouted, ‘Free Palestine, Gaza is ours, death to Israel,’” Lana told the Post, adding she, too, was attacked.
The husband, identified as Johan, told the Post he was “put in a chokehold” after getting sucker-punched.
Cops arrested Ez-Al Dean Bazar for assaulting Johan but the New York Police Department did not classify it as a hate crime because “nothing on my body says I am Jewish,” Lana told the Post.
However, an NYPD spokesperson said Saturday that “The Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating the incident,” according to the Post.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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