A Small group led by local politicians rallied at 86th Street and Bay Parkway in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn yesterday after two young men had been allegedly assaulted and called ‘dirty Jews’ for one of them wearing an IDF sweatshirt in front of the Foot Locker store in Bay Ridge last week
At the same time and place as the rally in suport of the alleged victims of the attack >>> anti-Israel/ anti-Zionist activists held a counterprotest closeby --- with the NYPD on hand to separate the groups and keep the peace
Also playing a role in the street theater were Ilan Kaganovich and Blake Zavadzky, the alleged victims of last week's attack >>> shown together in the photo below, one week after they allegedly had been harrassed, and one of them attacked at the Foot Locker in Bay Ridge, at 86th Street near 5th Avenue
Just like the Chicago PD had originally done in the somewhat similar Jussie Smollet incident, NY City Police detectives are investigating the attack in the Bay Ridge neighborhood that happened last week as a "hate crime"; and. to date, the NYPD has not made any arrests or publically identified any suspect (other than possibly somebody shown in photos and a video released by the NYPD).
Last Sunday, Kaganovich and Zavadsky reached out after the incident to New York City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov, who helped organize this Sunday’s protest at a location that is neither in her district nor near where the alleged anti-semitic attack had occurred.
At the same time as the protest involving the local politicins, and Zavadsky and Kaganovich >>> Pro-Palestinian activists and members of the anti-Zionist ultra-Orthodox Naturei Karta group held a counterprotest across 86th Street. The two sides were divided by a heavy police presence; and NYPD officers had to physically separate individuals from each side in at least two instances. However, there was no instance of violence between the two sides, although several cars drove past waving Palestinian flags and the two sides hurled insults at each other across the street. The dual protests ended with the two sides walking in parallel down the street, with a convoy of police marching along between them.
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Appendix to original piece above, posted here on 1/4/2022:
>>> Another look at the Sunday demonstration with a later-published photo of the event, showing Ari Kagan speaking, and later additional reporting about the event from the Brooklyn Paper:
That later coverage in the Brooklyn Paper gave the following detailed explantion as to why the demonstration was moved from Bay Ridge to Bensonhurst:
".... The rally was initially set to take place at the Bay Ridge Foot Locker, but was soon after switched to Bensonhurst. Protesters ended up marching from Bay Parkway along 86th Street to the Bensonhurst Foot Locker, at the intersection with Bay 26th Street.... Vernikov spokesperson Tova Chatzinoff-Rosenfeld said that the protest was moved from Bay Ridge out of respect for the neighborhood’s large Palestinian and Muslim population.... 'We didn’t want to inflame tensions,' she said, also noting violent threats Vernikov and the protesters had received on social media, owing largely to the image of people in IDF hoodies, which attendees were encouraged to wear, marching into a Palestinian neighborhood. The IDF is notorious internationally for brutally enforcing Israel’s occupation of Palestine.... Bay Ridge activist group Fight Back Bay Ridge posted on social media that the planned rally amounted to “provocation or even terrorism” against the neighborhood’s sizable Palestinian and broader Muslim community.... 'Storming into Bay Ridge, with our large and vibrant Palestinian and Muslim community, wearing IDF hoodies is an act of provocation or even terrorism,' the group said. 'GTFOH.'... A significant contingent of counter-protesters, many aligned with Neturei Karta, showed up in Bensonhurst: Bay Ridge resident Jay Brown, who watched the rally from the street, estimated that the crowds of protesters and counter-protesters were about the same size, with the counter-protesters possibly numbering slightly higher. The Neturei Karta contingency followed the pro-IDF protesters on the other side of the street, waving Palestinian flags and bellowing chants like 'IDF, shame on you,' 'IDF, terrorists,' and 'from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.'...”
