Jewish reporter assaulted by ultra-Orthodox mob in Brooklyn

Jason Greenblatt and Rep. Jerry Nadler condemn the incident.

By JEREMY SHARON
A NYPD officer speaks with Ultra-Orthodox Jews as they gather in the Borough Park neighborhood of Brooklyn amid the coronavirus outbreak in New York, US October 7, 2020 (photo credit: REUTERS/YUKI IWAMURA)
A NYPD officer speaks with Ultra-Orthodox Jews as they gather in the Borough Park neighborhood of Brooklyn amid the coronavirus outbreak in New York, US October 7, 2020
(photo credit: REUTERS/YUKI IWAMURA)
A well-known and respected ultra-Orthodox reporter was assaulted and beaten during a protest in Brooklyn by haredi demonstrators, who are protesting statewide restrictions on houses of worship.
Jacob Kornbluh, who reports for the Jewish Insider and has been covering the recent ultra-Orthodox protests in Brooklyn, was implicitly threatened on Wednesday by local radio host Heshy Tischler, who called him “a rat, a kapo [a Jew who helped the Nazis], and a moisser [informer],” for his reporting.
Several public figures, including former Trump Trump administration official Jason Greenblatt and New York Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler condemned the incident and called for those responsible to be brought to justice.
“I was just brutally assaulted, hit in the head, and kicked at by an angry crowd of hundreds of community members of the Borough Park protest – while yelling at me “Nazi” and “Hitler” – after Heshy Tischler recognized me and ordered the crowd to chase me down the street,” tweeted Kornbluh after the incident.
“I was saved by heroic police officers and several community members. I’m safe right now,” he continued, and said that he would be filing charges against Tischler for incitement and physical assault and will seek charges against any individual who hit him.

Greenblatt described the incident as “an embarrassment” and a “Hilul Hashem” (desecration of God’s name) and called the actions of those involved in the attack as “Disgusting behavior!”
“Violence and incitement are inexcusable,” tweeted Greenblatt. “Our hearts go out to @jacobkornbluh, a mensch and member of the free press. Differences should be settled by exchanges of ideas. The Jewish community must strive for civility and dialogue.”
Nadler described the incident as “terrifying” and called for law enforcement to step in.
“While this may be a small minority within a small community, it is disgusting and those responsible must be held to account for such violence,” he tweeted.

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Earlier on Wednesday before the incident, Tischler took to Twitter himself to urge civil disobedience and invite people to the protest, which he described as a Simhat Beit Hashoeiva, the traditional celebrations staged on the intermediary days of Sukkot.
“We’re going to have music, we’re going to dance,” he said, adding “I do not condone violence,” and implored any attendees not to attack the police.
“Our shuls will not close, our yeshivas will open, we will have civil disobedience. The First Amendment will be protected.
He described New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who recently ordered the new regulations on houses of worship, as “a liar” and said he would “lead this war” against the limitations on mass gatherings and the number of worshipers in prayer services.
Following the attack on Kornbluh, Tischler alleged that the journalist was not harmed and accused him of crying wolf.
In another tweet, he shared a video of the attack on the reporter saying “Expelling the Moyser [informer],” and then posted footage of Kornbluh being led away from the scene by police with a quote from the Book of Psalms in Hebrew reading “I will cut off all the horns of the wicked.”