Matt Greenman was assaulted at a New York City anti-Israel rally that he was counter-protesting last Wednesday, he claimed to The Jerusalem Post.
"I was walking with my Israeli flag on my back like a cape in front of the protesters at a Palestine protest in NYC on April 20th, 2022," Greenman related to the Post. He was reportedly counter-protesting the event alone, walking with crutches due to a sprained foot. "I turned around, and this guy made eye contact with me. He looked extremely angry in his eyes, at a level that I knew that this guy could do something."
Greenman said that he was followed, and the man threatened him that “when we’re somewhere more private I’ve got something for you.”
A short time later, the man allegedly attacked Greenman. He threw him to the ground and proceeded to punch and kick him in the face while he lay there.
“That’s what you get for being a terrorist,” he said he was told as the man left.
"I went to the emergency room, was told I have a mild concussion, possible fracture above the eye but the swelling was too much to see through with the CAT scan to confirm," said Greenman.
"Something was uneven though, which is a sign of potential fracture. My face is all banged up. I've got scrapes on my elbow, knees, neck, and a bruise on my arm, along with the face and head trauma."
Greenman said that he filed a police report, and his case is being addressed by detectives from the NYPD's hate crime unit.
"The police haven't said all that much to me besides that they'll keep me updated on how the case progresses," said Greenman.
The rally, organized by Within Our Lifetime (WOL) and the Palestinian Youth Movement as part of Samidoun's “10 Days of Struggle for the Palestinian Prisoners’ Liberation” campaign was criticized in advance to the event due to radical rhetoric in support of "Palestinian resistance," calling for resistance by "any means necessary."
Previous events organized by WOL called for "globalizing the Intifada." Another Samidoun-affiliated event in Toronto on Sunday was also criticized for incitement to violence, in which participants cheered for rocket attacks and the deadliness of recent terrorist attacks against Israel.
According to Greenman, the radical rhetoric of the Wednesday NYC rally wasn't limited to advertisements and posters.
"The thing that stood out to me the most was how they would chant 'We don't want 2 states, we want '48!'" said Greenman. "This is the anti-Zionist rhetoric that I wanted to stand up to."
In December, two New York City Jewish men were attacked because one of them had been wearing an IDF sweatshirt. Like Greenman, Blake Zavadsky was also given a black eye.
"Not everyone will be silent in the face of anti-Zionism, which is one of the most widely-accepted forms of racism in contemporary society, and that's what I wanted to show with my own counter-protest with my flag," said Greenman.