An employee of the office of New York Mayor Eric Adams, whose team is supposed to “bridge cultural divides and provide unity," was filmed tearing down hostage posters and then assaulting an eyewitness, according to a Saturday New York Post exclusive, which first identified the employee.
The woman, Nallah Sutherland, who works for the Mayor's Office of Special Projects and Community Events, was first named in the Post. However, Stop Antisemitism first posted the video of Sutherland on November 4, requesting that the woman be identified.
Following the identification of Sutherland, Liora Raz, the founder of Stop Antisemitism, called for her to be fired. “It’s an appalling act of antisemitism,” she said.
However, according to the Post's investigation, Sutherland, 25, did not face significant consequences. She reportedly was required to take "multicultural training" and had a note added to her file, a City Hall source said.
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The Mayor's Office told the Post that “Mayor Adams has been clear that hate has no place in our city, and the same – if not higher – standard should be held for our city’s more than 300,000 employees," which was why "disciplinary action was taken immediately after learning about this incident a few weeks ago.”
The video shows Sutherland tearing the poster down and throwing it into the trash. An eyewitness asked her, "Is there a reason you're taking it down?"
"Those were hostages. They were taken by terrorists," the eyewitness—who is Jewish—continued.
Sutherland proceeded to walk to the man and knock his phone out of his hand.
"Extremely hypocritical"
According to the website, Sutherland's team aims to “bridge cultural divides … and support key city initiatives that help provide a source of strength, unity, and resilience to New Yorkers across all communities within the five boroughs and beyond."
“It’s extremely hypocritical that someone who supports the murder of anyone still has a job, much less in a department that plays a vital role in our city’s diversity efforts — despite the fact that she cannot tolerate innocent Jews who were kidnapped by Hamas,” said Councilwoman Inna Vernikov (R-Brooklyn).
“Decisive action must be taken to purge this disgusting pro-jihadist sentiment from” city government “once and for all,” added Vernikov.
According to the Post, the eyewitness did not report the incident out of fear of retribution, given rising antisemitism.
Raz said it was a "sad state of affairs when the victim doesn't have trust in the NYPD."