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Jewish Man Says He Was Threatened, Subjected to Anti-Semitic Harassment on NYC Subway

[additional-authors]
January 7, 2020
NEW YORK, NY – DECEMBER 16: People crowd into a vintage New York City subway car as people dance to a live band on December 16, 2012 in New York City. The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) runs vintage subway trains from the 1930’s-1970’s each Sunday along the M train route from Manhattan to Queens through the first of the year. (Photo by Preston Rescigno/Getty Images)

A Jewish man is claiming that he was threatened and subjected to anti-Semitic harassment on the New York City subway on Jan. 5, The Jerusalem Post reports.

The man, Jonathan Gray, tweeted that he was on the subway after attending the No Hate, No Fear March earlier in the day when a woman started shouting and cursing at him when she saw his yarmulke. Among the things the woman allegedly said to him included the words, “F— you Jews.” Gray then proceeded to film the woman; the woman can be seen saying to him, “I will kick your motherf—ing phone off your…” before the video ends.

https://twitter.com/udontchap/status/1213920787259908098?s=20

https://twitter.com/udontchap/status/1213930163563585536?s=20

https://twitter.com/udontchap/status/1213974156846477312

When Gray got off the subway, he reported the incident to the New York City Police Department (NYPD) as a hate crime.

https://twitter.com/udontchap/status/1213958929421611008?s=20

Anti-Defamation League (ADL) CEO Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted, “After such a momentous day at the No Hate, No Fear Solidarity March, it’s disgraceful to see that on the same day, Jews were still being harassed in NY for who they are. Our work is not done. We must continue to fight this vile #hatred each & every day.”

ADL New York and New Jersey tweeted that they met with Gray to discuss the matter on the evening of Jan. 6. “He was an ally against hate by reporting to police and to @ADL_NYNJ through our form at http://adl.org/report,” they wrote. “[It’s] simple, easy and lets us know where incidents happen so we can do something about it! Be an ally too, #report.”

A similar incident occurred on the subway on Dec. 12, when a woman was arrested for allegedly assaulting and subjecting Israeli-Jewish woman Lihi Aharon to anti-Semitic incidents.

NYPD data released in November stated that there were 42 complaints of anti-Semitic hate crimes occurring on the subway from January to October 2019, an increase of 162% over the same timeframe the year prior, according to The City.

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