A mob of over a hundred Zionist-fascist thugs violently assaulted pro-Palestinian protesters, a bystander and a police officer in Brooklyn last Thursday, April 24, during an appearance by fascist Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir at a pro-Zionist religious group.

The New York Police Department (NYPD) officers on the scene largely stood aside as the attacks occurred, and there is no clear evidence that any of the fascist rioters have been arrested or charged.

The fascist rampage was effectively endorsed by Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, who condemned the victims as “pro-terrorist antisemitic anarchists” and accused them of “attacking Jews.”

But the only Jewish people who were attacked were those targeted by the Zionist mob. One 29-year-old Jewish Israeli-American woman, who identified herself as E., was hit in the head with what appeared to have been a brick hurled by the mob as she was protesting the appearance of Ben-Gvir.

Footage published on social media showed E. bleeding severely and profusely, with blood dripping down her face. E. told Haaretz that “police largely stood by” as the assault took place.

E. told Haaretz, “Many of us are Jewish. Israeli. We protested because we don’t think Ben-Gvir should be allowed to speak in our city.”

I., an Israeli-American man, told Haaretz that he witnessed the mob violence on the way back from a sports game. “They were about ten times the number of the pro-Palestinian protesters,” he recounted, in the words of Haaretz. “NYPD officers were speaking with members of Chabad’s private security group, Shomrim.” Haaretz quoted him as saying, “It seemed like there was some personal connection.”

He added, “I’ve never seen violence like this by Jews against other Jews.” S., a demonstrator, told Haaretz, “It was Jews attacking Jews—and they [the New York Police Department] let it happen.”

In another incident shown in multiple videos published on social media, a local resident was chased by a mob of over 100 fascists, who repeatedly pushed and kicked her, and threw a traffic cone and a trash can at her. The whole time, the mob was chanting “death to Arabs.”

The woman, who asked not to be named due to her fear of retribution, told the New York Times that she was not part of the demonstration but merely a local resident watching from the sidelines with neighbors. She said that she covered her face with a scarf when people started filming.

“They were shouting at me, threatening to rape me, chanting ‘death to Arabs.’ I thought the police would protect me from the mob, but they did nothing to intervene,” she told the Associated Press.

The woman told the Associated Press, “I felt sheer terror. I realized at that point that I couldn’t lead this mob of men to my home. I had nowhere to go. I didn’t know what to do. I was just terrified.”

Finally, an NYPD officer began escorting her through the hostile crowd. But the harassment continued and intensified. The Zionists shouted racist, sexist and anti-Arab profanities. She was shoved, kicked in the back, spat upon and had various objects thrown at her.

She and the officer were followed by the mob for several blocks until they reached a police car in which she was driven home.

There are no confirmed accounts that any members of the fascist mob were arrested or charged. On Monday, the bystander released a statement to CNN “demanding an immediate hate crimes investigation and action from city and state officials.”

Ben-Gvir, a leading figure in Netanyahu’s far-right government, is an open advocate of genocide in Gaza and the complete expulsion of Palestinians. Head of the fascist Otzma Yehudit (”Jewish Power”) party, he has called for bombing Gaza’s remaining aid depots and overseen the arming of West Bank settlers. His appearance at Chabad-Lubavitch’s Brooklyn headquarters—following a visit to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate—was a calculated provocation, signaling US support for Israel’s ethnic cleansing campaign.

Thursday’s assault took place near the global headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement in Crown Heights, a neighborhood with a large Orthodox Jewish community.

The total passivity of the NYPD as the fascist mob carried out its rampage was in stark contrast to the often violent assaults by the NYPD on anti-genocide protesters, which have been a frequent occurrence since the genocide began in October 2023.

Police report that six people were arrested, five were issued court summons and released, and the sixth was charged with assault, harassment and criminal mischief. No information has so far been released regarding which side of the protest any of them belonged to.

In sharp contrast to the implied accusation of antisemitism, an article in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz points out that “… many of the [anti-Ben-Gvir] protesters, including those who fell victim to harassment, are Jewish, Israeli, or both…”

The entire political establishment is treating the violent assault by Zionists as if what was involved were “clashes” between protestors and counter-protestors. The media has referred to the assault as mere “harassment.”

In a statement dripping with hypocrisy, New York City’s Democratic mayor, Eric Adams—who has groveled before the fascist American president in an effort to have corruption charges against him dismissed—issued a statement regarding the attacks on the two women.

In it, he essentially blamed the anti-Ben-Gvir protesters for creating a situation that resulted in violence. “The NYPD is investigating a series of incidents stemming from clashing protests on Thursday that began when a group of anti-Israel protesters surrounded the Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters—a Jewish house of worship—in Brooklyn.” Adams fails to mention that the attacks were carried out by Zionist thugs.

US Democratic Representative Jerry Nadler issued a statement on X, formerly Twitter, in which he criticized Ben-Gvir, whom he called “Israel’s inciter-in-chief.” With a straight face, he condemned “… all of the violence that took place in Brooklyn outside of Ben-Gvir’s visit to Chabad World Headquarters. Violence is never the answer - whether by counter-protesters in Brooklyn or by settlers in the West Bank.”

Nadler has recently introduced a bill supposedly designed to impose economic sanctions on Israeli settlers who commit violence in the West Bank. Such measures are totally hypocritical, seeking to obscure the fact that the violence being committed by Israel against Palestinians in both Gaza and the West Bank can only be sustained by Israel due to the full support given by the US and other imperialist powers, which has been consistently supported by both the Democrats and Republicans.

It is notable that New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who styles herself as a progressive Democrat and is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, has not issued any statements about the Zionist thugs’ violent attack. The assault occurred just a few miles from her Congressional district, which covers portions of Queens and The Bronx.

The entire capitalist establishment is lined up behind the genocide against the Palestinian people by Israel, no matter how brutal, as the opening phase of a war by imperialism for the redivision of the whole Middle East. Figures like Ben-Gvir embody the ruthlessness with which this will be carried out. Only the united struggle of the Jewish and Arab working class to establish a socialist federation throughout the region can avert an otherwise inevitable disaster.