“You f**king baby killer,” “Free Palestine,” “You’re lucky we’re in America or I will f**k your sh*t, motherf**er,” “Your son’s in the IDF—he likes to shoot babies?” “Get out of the lobby right now…I don’t want to see people like you…”
This is a sampling of what an agitated and hateful Faiz Akbar told Rabbi Shmuley Boteach in the lobby of the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami this past Sunday. The rabbi caught it on video. You can see for yourself.
After the clip went viral, the hotel today released this statement:
“A verbal altercation occurred over the weekend between two individuals in the lobby of our hotel. During this isolated incident, one of the individuals used abhorrent language, which we find horrific and will not be tolerated on our property. Our security team prioritized de-escalating the incident to prevent any physical altercation, and once the individuals left on their own accords, we proactively engaged with the Miami Beach Police Department. We sincerely apologize to those impacted by this individual’s words, which in no way represent our company’s views. We are fully cooperating with law enforcement to further address the incident, and our team is continuing to prioritize guests feeling safe and welcome when visiting the resort.”
I’m guessing the PR folks at the hotel assumed that if they used strong words like “abhorrent language” and “horrific,” we’d forget they failed to call the incident by its real name–antisemitic.
A Muslim man verbally assaults a visibly Jewish man in a hotel lobby, spewing out vile accusations connected to Israel and the Jews, and the hotel couldn’t go beyond generic language to decry the incident?
At the very least, the hotel could have said, “We consider this hate speech directed at a Jewish man…which is totally unacceptable.”
Of course, one can’t help but wonder what the hotel would have said had a Ku Klux Klan member directed racist language at a Black man. Actually we don’t need to wonder– there’s little doubt the hotel would have been a lot more specific regarding the “individuals.”
How ironic that the Fontainebleau has such a long and storied tradition with American Jews. But maybe that itself is part of the problem—the Jews of Fontainebleau represent the stereotype of the successful Jews who look on top of the world, with the means to live it up.
Just as in the rest of America, the idea of “privileged” Jews as victims is a hard sell, even when it’s a hard truth caught on video.
Haters will hate. But it’s the authorities on top– from business owners to university deans to prosecutors– who must call out that hate regardless of the target. And that includes Jews in fancy hotels.
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