At the Brian Fox rally in front of the Foot Locker store on 86th Street in Bay Ridge on Wednesday >>> Fox and several of his guest speakers referred to the December 26th incident as both anti-semitism and as a hate crime --- even though the investigation of the event is ongoing and many relevant facts are still being gathered
There were only about a dozen people there in front of Foot Locker --- interestingly, some of the speakers at the Fox rally spoke as if they had some official NYPD standing, because of their positions in a pair of NYPD officers' unions..... In fact, they were nothing but police union hacks doing their best to instill fear in the public
Already, various media outlets with their own agenda are picking up on the allegations that the Foot Locker incident was an assault, and that it was an anti-semitic hate crime --- and using that and the failure of bystanders to intervene as a sticks to beat on the Bay Ridge Arab community
Here's one of just that kind of anti-Arab, anti-Bay Ridge outburst:
"... The punch in the eye that Blake Zavadsky received on Monday followed the assailant’s asking, 'Why are you in our neighborhood?' The victim was wearing a hoodie with the logo of the Israeli Army while shopping at a Foot Locker in Bay Ridge with his friend Ilan Kaganovich.... 'He punched me two times over here,' Zavadsky said, pointing at his left eye in a video shared by Brooklyn Councilwoman Inna Vernikov. 'Afterwards he threw iced coffee all over my sweatshirt.' The victims added that the manager and employees of the Foot Locker on 86th Street witnessed the attack and did not intervene.... While the suspect remains at large, the broader question is whether it is safe for a visible Jew or Zionist to walk the streets of a neighborhood that has a sizable Arab American community. This past May, a massive crowd marched through the neighborhood to mark the anniversary of the Nakba – the Palestinian term for 'catastrophe' as they regard the rebirth of the Jewish state.... The rally appeared spontaneous, generated by social media to disrupt traffic. Participants climbed on buses and lampposts while chanting 'from the river to the sea,' and for a third intifada. Although that week there was an Israeli retaliatory strike against Hamas positions in Gaza, the rally was in protest of the very existence of Israel, rather than a specific action by its government.... In this country, no neighborhood truly belongs to a specific ethnicity or religion. As there are laws against discrimination in housing and public facilities, freedom of expression also has no borders. That there were indifferent bystanders and local activists who tweet about Islamophobia but are silent on antisemitism shows that our security cannot be taken for granted. Such laws have strength only as long as there are public officials, agencies, and a populace that uphold them." (See "Is Bay Ridge Safe For Jews?" by Sergey Kadinsky. 12/29/2021, queensjewishlink.com/ Community Corner [ https://www.queensjewishlink.com/index.php/local/26-community-corner/5764-is-bay-ridge-safe-for-jews ] ).