Israeli woman, Jewish man attacked on NYC subway, called 'stinking Jews'
"You f**king stinking a** Jew," the attacker is heard screaming after police arrive at the scene.
By RACHEL WOLFPeople enter the subway station by the New York Port Authority Bus Terminal following an attempted detonation during the morning rush hour, in New York City, New York, US, December 11, 2017(photo credit: REUTERS/ANDREW KELLY)
Lihi Aharon, an Israeli woman, was verbally and physically attacked recently by an apparently Muslim woman in a New York City subway car. It is suspected that the attacker is Muslim because she repeats the Arabic phrase “Allahu Akbar” (God is great) and references the Koran.After the attack, Aharon recorded a video of herself and has a noticeable scratch on her face that she says is from the incident.Aharon got on the subway after her college’s induction ceremony and saw the attacker-to-be with bags on the seat next to her.Aharon asked if the woman could move the bags, but she refused. By chance, Aharon then sat next to a Jewish man wearing a kippah. According to Aharon’s account, the attacker began “cursing and yelling” at the Jewish man.“She didn’t know I was Jewish, of course,” Aharon says in the video, “but I’m not just Jewish. I’m also Israeli.” She then decided to record the woman on her phone.In the video, the Muslim woman is seen sitting in the subway leaning towards the camera. She says “You can record everything you wanna sell, Allahu Akbar. But you know what they’re gonna do? It’s gonna be deleted.” The woman then sticks her lounge out at the camera.Aharon says the woman told the Jewish man that last week’s shooting attack at Jersey City’s JC Kosher Supermarket was “great.”The attacker added that the shooters should have killed more Jews, according to Aharon’s account of the Jewish man’s comments.After yelling and cursing at Aharon and the man, the woman then knocked Aharon’s cellphone out of her hand. Aharon then asked her friend to record the incident and the woman hit that phone as well.
“All of a sudden she grabbed my face,” Aharon said, describing the physical attack. “It happened very fast... I had to fight back.”“People start telling me ‘You’re bleeding. Your face is bleeding.’” Aharon says she then pressed the emergency button and police arrived to arrest the woman.Throughout the video, shots of the woman yelling in English and Arabic from the stairs as what appears to be an NYPD officer stands close by.“It’s in the Koran, where they curse the serpent Jew, you wouldn’t believe,” the Muslim woman says. “You f**king nasty a** Jew. You nasty motherf**ker. You a nasty a** motherf**ker, you stink. You f**king stinkin’ a** Jew.” She also repeatedly chants “Allahu akbar.”The kippah wearing man can be seen briefly in the video.According to Aharon’s account, the woman also made disparaging remarks about homosexuals and white people.Pro-Israel activist Rudy Rochman told The Jerusalem Post that Aharon reached out to his Facebook page “and didn’t know what to do with the video and incident. She felt the need to get it out there, but didn’t know exactly how to, so she asked if I could share her story.”“When I got on the phone call with her I realized that this was much bigger than just reporting on an act of antisemitism, but that her empowering outlook and courage could inspire so many,” Rochman said.After a day and a half of interlacing footage of the attack with footage of Aharon’s account, Rochman posted it on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.“Lihi is an Israeli/Jewish hero and embodies the spirit which all Jews must learn from. Never be afraid and always stand up for yourself. You may have a mark on your face for life, Lihi, but you’ve also left a mark on all of us,” Rochman wrote on Facebook.Rochman added, “Although this woman may be Muslim, she does not represent all Muslims.”“When you witness such things, please don’t be quiet,” Aharon urges in the video. “There is no place, not in New York or in any other place on Earth, for hatred.”“All the haters beware. Do not mess with us,” Aharon says, adding that she is proud she stood up for her people and her country.
